Wisdom From a Fortune Cookie - Wiping Out the Years

Okay, went to Orchard of Hawaii Friday night to get take out. Put aside the fortune cookies so that I will have inspiration without having to go back for a while. So let's see what we have. Take off the cellophane wrapping. Grasp cookie in left hand, middle finer in the V, index on the right half, ring on the left, and split. Two perfect halves from which to extrude the nugget of wisdom. You have to keep with rituals no matter what you do. Whether it is a simple thing like opening a fortune cookie, or saying prayers, smudging, or entering the woods. Now let's see what we have:

"A kiss makes the heart young again and wipe out the years."

Interesting. When you think about it, how old does one feel when alone compared to when one is loved or in love? Personally, I can remember trudging through the woods feeling like each step was in mud. Oh, wait, it was, but that is besides the point. When we are alone, we can feel heavy, old, and in extreme times, wishing for the end.

Yet, how much different we feel when we feel loved or are in love? It is those times you can run through the woods, vaulting stone walls like a young buck. There is nothing like that feeling. There is a lightness, an energy that if we could just bottle, would be amazing. The whole world is alive an beautiful. Everything we see takes on such beauty. Roses smell sweeter. Why we might even say hello to a passing skunk rather than running and hiding.

Most of our time, though, is spent in that in between. At times we feel old, tired, and wishing this journey were at en end, and others we feel happy and light, and never wanting it to end. It is like a roller coaster. At the low end, we feel alone and at times, unloved.

In the last writing, I spoke of being the glow worm. This is one of those times when you can reach out to another and yourself glow. Think about it for a moment, if a kiss makes the heart feel young again, then couldn't simply showing someone you care and reaching out to them, at least help raise them up? Now, I am not saying go up and kiss a stranger, that could have some implications. What I am saying is that simply acknowledging someone you see down in the dumps, reaching out to them, maybe just listening, helps them to feel that someone cares. I have written over the years about reconnecting. We have become so distant from each other that it becomes difficult at times to reconnect. If we open our hearts and take the time to see the opportunities and maybe take that minute out of our lives to reach out to someone else, maybe they won't feel so old.

The thing is, that sometimes, that reconnecting, that reaching out, has a marvelous impact on ourselves. We glow. There is nothing like helping someone else get over a hurdle. Sometimes all it takes is taking the ten minutes or so, to listen. A good counselor will not tell you what you should do. They will simply listen and guide you to keep focused so that you, who all ready know the answers, can find your way through the morass to the solution.

So, here is my challenge to you. Help make someone feel younger. Reach out, listen, or simply be there. Help them to unload their burdens and feel young and light again. Oh, and if you feel so inclined to pass out kisses, well I am approaching my 51st year, so I could use all that youth medicine I can get. LOL. Of course, I am only kidding.

My heart, to your heart, one heart, one spirit.