http://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_bezos_gifts_vs_choices.html
this is a great talk and I encourage you to listen to it and not get bored with the slow pace of talk.. he ends it beautifully..
will you wilt under criticism or will you follow your convictions?
will you bluff it off when you are wrong or will you apologize?
will you choose a life of ease or a life of service and adventure?
will you play it safe or be a little swashbuckling?
will intertia be your guide or will you follow your passion?
will you be a cynic or will you be a builder?
will you be clever at the expense of others or will you be kind?
every choice that he brings up, prompted an answer in my heart.. and i realized that i have bluffed, have played safe, have let inertia be my guide, and most definitely been clever at the expense of others.. i have enjoyed realizing some of these about myself as he asked these questions.. but as beautiful as these questions are, just finding out my passion seems like a gaping hole in my heart...
i know enough of myself that if i was passionate about something, I would do it.. it's hard for people to stop me.. i have too much of my own mind.. but why have i found it so hard to find what I want to do? there is this niggling idea that i should be a better person and use all my gifts to the benefit of society.. that's what i have always wanted.. from the time i was like 12 - i have wanted to benefit the poorest of society.. but how?? when i am loath to be a mother teresa or give up too much of my creature comforts?? how can i help others when i am not willing to sacrifice of myself the way Gandhi did? is there a way? is India the solution? anyhow - these thoughts are always circling my head.. and i hope to someday not too far in the future have an answer.. what I will do is spend time with small kids when I am in India this winter.. i would love that most of all..
m
