Hey, Buddy, Can You Spare A…Minute?
“Once I built a railroad, made it run,
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad, now it’s gone…
Buddy, can you spare a dime?”
The Depression era lyrics about a man standing on the bread line hoping for handouts popped into mind as I hung up the phone with my mother.
Not that Mom was looking for a handout. She called because she was very depressed. After a modestly successful thirty-five years, her real estate business was failing with the economy and she could not afford to send holiday gifts to her children and their families. To make matters worse, everyone seemed to be experiencing one or the other sort of financial bind and she felt powerless to help. She called to apologize for not being able to send a gift.
After we hung up the phone, I found myself musing over the fact that, six hundred miles away from being able to offer her a reassuring “I love you with or without gifts” hug, my mother was focusing all her attention and emotion on the assumed misery of her children. She was mentally wrapped up in her inability to rescue anyone, rather than thinking about the happiness and financial success that she actually wished for everyone.
There is no good side to feeling or thinking like that. Miserable thoughts attract more misery, period. While nobody can create within the mind of another person, we can certainly support changes for the better in those who desire improved circumstances. Furthermore, there is an easy and fun way that anyone of any age can do that.
The next morning I made my holiday request. In lieu of a “material” gift, I asked Mom to devote One Minute a Day to “daydreaming” about me being happy, financially secure and healthy. I asked her to really “get into” imagining details of my wonderful new surroundings or growing savings account until she could actually feel happy at seeing me so happy! I suggested she do this until she feels herself smiling with happiness. Then I suggested that she give the same gift to each of her daughters as well as herself: one minute a day to “see and feel” the best for each of us. Surely, she could find five minutes a day to give to her daughters and herself! I added that if she found herself with more than five minutes, she could tack on a minute for her husband and a minute each for her most beloved friends. The exercise feels wonderful and feels better the more often it’s done.
Thoughts become things. If you don’t happen to have plentiful spare cash yet, you can still offer the vibrations of love and healing to others and in that way help them create their own miracles.
And while you’re at it, splurge a minute or two on yourself!
Wishing You a Magnificent Day,
Adrienne Austin
