So Much Beauty In the World!

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American Beauty is one of my all time favorite movies.

The film won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Spacey), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.

It’s basically about an average white middleclass American family going through their various crises – clichés like the angry teenager and the classic male/female midlife crisis.

Using these clichés, the movie exquisitely reveals some of the most difficult phases in life, and demonstrates for us  just how wisdom can be cultivated through personal growth.

In one of the best scenes, Ricky, a teenage boy, is talking to his new friend, Jane.

“Want to see the most beautiful thing I’ve ever filmed?”

On the video, the scene was in a parking lot on a cold, gray day. Something is floating across the screen… it’s an empty plastic bag, seemingly dancing with a life of its own. The wind carries it in a circle, sometimes whipping it about violently, or, without warning, sending it soaring skyward, then letting it float gracefully down to the ground.

Ricky is smiling as he watches, and he says:

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” It was one of those days when it’s     a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air,    you can almost hear it…    right?

And this bag was just dancing with me.    Like a little kid begging me to play with it.    For fifteen minutes.

And that’s the day I knew there was this entire life behind things,   and …   there is this incredibly benevolent force  …   that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid.   …Ever.

Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it, and my heart is just going to cave in.”

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Intense emotion is part of what marks life’s transition to ‘teenager’. It’s a stage of self-discovery and identity, and although it can be very exciting, these emotions can be overwhelming, sometimes to the point of contemplating suicide. Finding a way to handle them is one of this stages greatest challenges.

The film continues to take the viewer through various enactments that (can) lead to life changing decisions.

In the final scene of the movie, Lester, the main character, has similar observations about life as Ricky did, but he has the advantage of time and experience. He is content. And then he is shot. 

As his mind drifts, he recalls special moments in his life: …His wife, Carolyn, cutting roses from the garden… fresh-cut roses in a vase on the kitchen counter… the faucet as drops of water gather at the tip before falling…and the last drop is a shining sphere filled with light and beauty… his daughter, Janie, 7 years old, dressed for Halloween in a princess costume.

Next scene – it’s the video Ricky showed Jane earlier, of the empty white plastic bag being blown about by the wind. It carries it in a circle as it moves skyward   then letting it float gracefully down to the ground. He says:

“I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what just happened to me… 

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but it’s hard to stay mad, when there’s so much beauty in the world.

Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once      and it’s too much  …  

My heart fills up  like a balloon that’s about to burst …

And then I remember to relax  …

and stop trying to hold on to it  …

And then it flows through me like rain  …

 

And I can’t feel anything but gratitude   …  for every single moment  …  of my stupid   little    life…

 You have no idea what I’m talking about , I’m sure  … but don’t worry – you will someday.”

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Wow! Beautiful!

Everyone Is Afraid To Do What They Love

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April 17, 2013 · by thetruthyoualwaysknew ·

Throughout the last few years, as I’ve been contemplating what to do with my life, I’ve realized that everyone is afraid to do what they love. How do I know? Too many people work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, doing something that they don’t love to do.

Why? I think it’s because somewhere down their paths, they were too afraid. I think a lot of it comes from being scared of failure, being embarrassed or being made fun of. People don’t go for their goals because of what people might say or think.

I’ve been down this line of thought many times, and I’ve realized that beneath it all, the one thing we ALL are, is afraid. It’s our one and only major limitation to do anything. It’s the fundamental thing that keeps us all from where we want to be, from striving to be great.

We all back away from things every day, because we’re scared. Scared to ask for a raise, scared to try your own thing, scared to ask her out, scared of rejection and humiliation, scared of opinions and perceptions, scared of change.

You need to grow your comfort zone. Think of your current comfort zone as a puddle of water. Now think of the situations you are afraid of as smaller puddles, slightly out of reach. As you go towards and confront those “scary” situations, your comfort zone grows, and those once unreachable spots become things you no longer fear. They become a part of your new, larger comfort zone. And now, much further, at a time much more “scary” situations, are just one step away from being comfortable to you.

Imagine what you could achieve if so much of what you currently fear was comfortable for you? Imagine what you could achieve if you weren’t embarrassed to fail.

Actually, it’s only through failure that can you really achieve anything.

Find what you love to do and do it. And since you love doing it, you’ll always want to do it, and you’ll do it so well. Cause it won’t be work.

And if you’re not sure about what you want to do, just start doing something and you’ll find it.

I’m telling you. Everyone’s too afraid to do what they love. Everyone’s too afraid to be vulnerable.

To be made fun of:

“But what if this doesn’t work? What if I fail miserably? What if no one likes what I do and I waste years of my youth trying to do it? I’ll be a laughing stock.”

If you don’t try, you’ll never know.

Here’s one of my all time favorite quotes:

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It’s one of my favorite quotes because it’s so goddamn true. So many people don’t shoot. Too many.

For what? Because you might fail? And if you do, so what? What do you really have to lose? At least if you try, you’ll know what you’re worth. And more than likely, that is so much more than you can even imagine.

You’ve probably had your own moments of self doubt, or had other people tell you “It’s too risky,” or “Come on, be realistic.”

And for those moments of doubt, I’ll borrow some thoughts I’ve heard from Will Smith:

It was unrealistic to think you can walk in a room, flip a switch and have a light go on, but thankfully, Edison and others weren’t realistic.

It was unrealistic to think that you’re going to bend giant pieces of metal, and fly people over an ocean, in that metal, but thankfully, the Wright brothers and others, weren’t realistic. 

It just seems like such a ridiculous idea for me, to embrace the notion of “it’s not gonna happen, it’s not real to think that’s going to happen”.  As soon as you think that, you just made that true.

Why would you be realistic? What’s the point of the being realistic?

Never doubt that a small, committed group of thoughtful individuals can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.               

– Margaret Mead

So do what you love. You at least owe it to yourself to try.

Some people might think you’re crazy.

I think crazy is working 40 hours a week doing what you don’t love to do.

 

From off the web at: http://thetruthyoualwaysknew.com/2013/04/17/everyone-is-afraid-to-do-what-they-love/