Inspirational Short Story, Female Fantasy Art, Relaxing Music

If I cry tears let them wash away your fears --

make a rainbow of love for you.

-- Thom Klika

It takes both sun and rain to make a rainbow in the sky. The rainbow is a rare and beautiful thing -- each color brilliant beside the other.

Rain falls to earth like the tears we all shed sometimes.

Sunlight shines like the happiness we find inside when we feel peaceful.

The colors of the rainbow are like all the different feelings we have.

Let's say red is anger and green is fear and orange is joy and violet is contentment.

All these feelings create a whole person, in the same way that all these colors make the whole rainbow.

We become more colorful people as we learn to express all our emotions.

A person who is learning to share feelings radiates the same kind of beauty as a rainbow in the sky.

I'm a trader at heart. . .

except that I don't like trades that come out equally --

that's too much like borrowing.

I'd rather trade a strong hand for a patient ear

or a story for a meal: anything that keeps things turning over.

-- Gordon Bok

There is an old saying that there are just two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. Those of us who are givers delight in it.

We have a buck to lend when someone is broke, a kind word when they're down, a helping hand when they need it.

But sometimes we givers are uncomfortable when we're on the receiving end.

We brush off thanks and gifts and help, even when they're needed or deserved.

Those of us who are takers, on the other hand, know how to receive graciously what others have to give; we know how to ask for what we need.

Often, however, we don't know how to give.

We may be afraid our gifts will be wrong or rejected or laughed at.

We can all strive to become traders, people who have learned how to both give and receive.

We each have the capacity to give what we have freely and to ask, gratefully, for what we don't have.

That is the greatest gift of all.

A tree grown in a cave does not bear fruit.

-- Kahlil Gibran

A tree planted in a cave would soon be stopped short in its growth. There would be no room for it to grow tall or blossom.

It would only grow so far and then would grow no bigger.

Fear can be like a cave. We sometimes become fearful for the same reason we might enter a cave, looking for protection.

But fear protects us from the new ideas and behavior we need in order to grow.

Fear can keep us huddling inside it, watching life's opportunities pass by. When fear threatens to enclose us, we can take a deep breath and begin to do what we are afraid of doing.

The cave will fade away as we step out into the sun, fresh air, and storms that are a part of growing.

What fear can I overcome today?

_______________

11/05/2024

Dividers from Graphics by Sharon (dead link 08/02/2011)