Free Your Own Children

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Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you.

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love, but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls.

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but see not to make them like you.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be gladness.

-------Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

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Imagination

Most of our imagination never come true. When my daughter didn't show up past the instructed time, I started to imagine negative scenarios happening to her, drugs, sex, alcohol, accidents, etc. The thoughts become so intense that one can actually convince oneself that they are real. But an hour later, she shows up, safe and sound! All those illusions by imagination were never 'REAL'.

Life goes on with these kind of imagination, building illusions which mostly are negative and 'UNREAL'. And this kind of imagination brings negativity to the person imagining. Unable to realize the examples of 'true facts', the person stores negativity in himself from consciously into subconsciously. The result is negative consequences in life.

There is another kind of imagination, the ones one put into action. An imagination becomes a reality actively. This is creativity. It not only make a positive influence to the creator, it mostly will impact others in an inspired way.

We have all done this in our lives. Be it cooking a meal, pursuing a project, rearranging furnitures, planning a celebration, ......etc. They bring nothing but satisfaction, without doubts, regrets! There is always feeling of accomplishment.

If one has to imagine and since imagination can be untrue or unreal, why not imagine something good. A good example is in the movie "Life Is Beautiful", an unforgettable fable that proves love, family and imagination conquer all. IMDB comment , "Life is really beautiful as you watch Guido's relentless efforts to make a lovely exciting experience of the concentration camp to his son. You get exhausted just watching him going through his painful day and yet you smile as he speaks to his son and makes him laugh. ........"

We all wish we had a father like Mr. Benigni. But, in fact, we can be our own Benigni. A Benigni to our child in us by imagining good things instead of bad. Since our imagination may not come true anyway, why not fill our lives with good illusions instead of bad ones. We can make our own life beautiful by our imagination.

I wish you a beautiful life.