Wish in One Hand...
Kelli Dunlap has her weekly Coffee Talk.
Brian Keene blogs about topics ranging from the silly to the cerebral.
Geoff Cooper blogs about... well... he blogs infrequently, but his posts, like those of the late George Carlin, are always damned entertaining and most often thought provoking.
So I've been thinking a lot lately. Losing the ability to sleep will offer that opportunity.
Growing up, I had quite a mix of influences in my family. The maternal and paternal sides couldn't be more different, but one thing they did share was a penchant for obscure phrases and sayings. Some of them were just "old timer" sayings. Others... who knows how and where they developed. But I'm going to attempt - at least as long as I can - to offer up a phrase a week and we'll see how things go along.
This week we'll take a look at a saying from my late grandmother on my mother's side. She was a virtual cornucopia of sayings, but the one I've been thinking of lately is when she'd hear someone use the phrase "I wish..."
Not that she was apt to kill any magical thinking of wishing, but then again, she'd been through some tough times when wishing did nothing but instill false hope, and though she prayed, I think the logical part of her put faith in her own two hands to get things done.
Her response to "I wish..." was sometimes... "Wish in one hand and shit in the other and see what that gets you."
My grandmother was a wonderful, colorful character, and for her words: how very, ridiculously true.
In a bad situation, you can wish your ass off and it won't make it go away. Have to face the music sometime or another. Lately, there's a hell of a lot of things I'd like to wish for but like my grandmother, my Bob-logic tends to put more faith in my own two hands. Oh, I'm not adverse to getting help along the way, and I'm a huge believer in the power of positive thinking... the laws of attraction and all that. But I almost never wish anymore.
I've been thinking a lot lately about being a kid and having that magic of wishing... having that power of belief and conviction - not because you don't know any better, but because no one's ever really told you any different.
As you get older, does that magic have to fade away?
I'm sitting here typing this in my office. My business partner isn't here yet. I've got a fresh mocha coffee at my side and music blaring. It's the day before Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to a long weekend. This day is very far from being over. It's a pivotal sort of day. A day for wishing.
And both my hands are empty.
Brian Keene blogs about topics ranging from the silly to the cerebral.
Geoff Cooper blogs about... well... he blogs infrequently, but his posts, like those of the late George Carlin, are always damned entertaining and most often thought provoking.
So I've been thinking a lot lately. Losing the ability to sleep will offer that opportunity.
Growing up, I had quite a mix of influences in my family. The maternal and paternal sides couldn't be more different, but one thing they did share was a penchant for obscure phrases and sayings. Some of them were just "old timer" sayings. Others... who knows how and where they developed. But I'm going to attempt - at least as long as I can - to offer up a phrase a week and we'll see how things go along.
This week we'll take a look at a saying from my late grandmother on my mother's side. She was a virtual cornucopia of sayings, but the one I've been thinking of lately is when she'd hear someone use the phrase "I wish..."
Not that she was apt to kill any magical thinking of wishing, but then again, she'd been through some tough times when wishing did nothing but instill false hope, and though she prayed, I think the logical part of her put faith in her own two hands to get things done.
Her response to "I wish..." was sometimes... "Wish in one hand and shit in the other and see what that gets you."
My grandmother was a wonderful, colorful character, and for her words: how very, ridiculously true.
In a bad situation, you can wish your ass off and it won't make it go away. Have to face the music sometime or another. Lately, there's a hell of a lot of things I'd like to wish for but like my grandmother, my Bob-logic tends to put more faith in my own two hands. Oh, I'm not adverse to getting help along the way, and I'm a huge believer in the power of positive thinking... the laws of attraction and all that. But I almost never wish anymore.
I've been thinking a lot lately about being a kid and having that magic of wishing... having that power of belief and conviction - not because you don't know any better, but because no one's ever really told you any different.
As you get older, does that magic have to fade away?
I'm sitting here typing this in my office. My business partner isn't here yet. I've got a fresh mocha coffee at my side and music blaring. It's the day before Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to a long weekend. This day is very far from being over. It's a pivotal sort of day. A day for wishing.
And both my hands are empty.
posted by Bob at 11/26/2008
7 Comments:
My dad still says that. Or if you say, "I want..." he says to shit in one hand and want in the other.
Two words I've been (striving) to live towards: Simplify and Contentment.
Maybe it goes along with wishing and wanting. As I get older, I feel like I'm learning to keep the wishing and wanting at bay to focus on the contentment of the moment, even in the midst of what seems to be never-ending familial and personal tragedy. I guess the longer we live the more people we watch die.
So while it's still fun to wish, I don't feel it's very realistic. I want to love the moment I'm in not wish it away.
Wishes are too passive a thing. Action is required to do anything.
I don't think of wishing as randomly throwing out your desires to the universe.
Wishing is our mind's use of visualization to channel the energy of our wants and desires into reality. Call it prayer, Law of Attraction, whatever ... but if we don't try to visualize a better outcome we lose hope.
If we lose hope than our hands and hearts are truly empty. And for the record, at least in spirit, your hands are never empty my old friend; mine are there holding yours for support and hope when your own is hard to muster.
Magick never fades. We just don't take the time to observe it.
Wishing is still important, even though it gets nothing done, because it keeps imagination and hope alive. You still have to do the work, but while your bob-logic is busy doing what needs to be done, try not to forget to be whimsical... Whimsical keeps us young, hope keeps us moving forward, and imagination helps us figure which way to deal with the problem.
And because i'm about the whimsical at the moment, Cinderella's words kinda work:
A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling thru
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
the dream that you wish will come true
The only weird comment my dad had was: "Don't thank me. Thank God you're getting it."
sometimes wishing isn't he answer, but it always makes me think of this:
You can go to extremes with impossible schemes
You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams
And life gets more exciting with each passing day
And love is either in your heart or on its way
Dont you know that its worth every treasure on earth
To be young at heart
For as rich as you are its much better by far
To be young at heart
And if you should survive to 105
Look at all youll derive out of being alive
Then here is the best part
You have a head start
If you are among the very young at heart
Buddha
- Michelle, those are two strong and wise words to focus on. I think you're right - it does have something to do with getting older. I don't know about wiser, but maybe more experienced. Living in the moment - with or without pain attached - is still a reminder that we're alive, and here, and experiencing all that life has to offer.
- rebelleink
Very true words. Action is the only thing that will make things happen. I do think it begins with thought and we are more than capable of making our thoughts into a reality.
- RossoRaven
There we go... visualizing an outcome, thoughts becoming reality. Losing hope is a bad thing to be certain, though I tend to think wishing blindly leaves you blind.
And I know... I know my hands are never empty. =)
- kelli
Those Cinderella words... oh the irony.
And you get two extra points for using the phrase "bob-logic"
And me? Lose whimsy and imagination? That's like a detachable penis. Never gonna happen for me.
- Joseph! Ha! I used to get that one from my grandmother on my Dad's side. Funny... we never quite got close.
- Buddha
My brotha... leave it to you to pick the most fitting lyrics. A lot of the lyrics you've said to me over the years are coming back to me lately.
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