On January 1st I referred to last year’s (and now this year’s) resolutions. It was a list of qualities I could wish for more of. But I could just as well come up with another I’d like less of. I could call it my non-wish, or unwish, or antiwish list. It’d be made of us stuff I tend to have but would be better off with less of. If it was only that easy I could just name it and disclaim it!
Or take the stuff that sullies and put it in my dis-wisher.
Everyone’s list would be different but a few suggested options for me would be:
Poverty of spirit
Poverty of any kind
Underconfidence
Overconfidence
Preoccupation with self
Preoccupation with anything
Considering the old days were better
Considering the old days were failures
Any ingratitude
Any entitlement
General inattention
Mental myopia
Insensitivity
Dullness of mind
Dullness of any kind
Tomfoolery
Dick and Janefoolery
Insertmyownnamefoolery
I could go on, and so could you. (Feel free to comment.)
Here’s another that could summarize the whole thing. I heard it a few months ago at a funeral of a man who had been our pastor in the early years of our spiritual development. His teaching and example always held a place of honor with me. At the funeral, a distant niece of his had mailed over a personal eulogy which was read aloud. In it she enumerated a long list of his qualities, all of which were right and true, but one, buried in the list, stood out with me particularly: “He was never small.”
Never small!
What a wonderful thing to have said about you, even when you’re dead. Better when you’re still alive.
So I add it to the list.
Smallness
Smallness of thinking
Smallness of any kind
In this inner game of baseball, these are the balls not to swing at.
Why strike out needlessly?
Next: Thoughts on a life-long poem, coming Friday.
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Our Lives Together
Its About Life
11:02 am
Really like the whole concept, Hyatt! We focus so much on what we think we need or don;t have enough of, yet all the time failing to realize the old proverb, “less is more.” Thanks!
11:05 am
Brilliant, as expected… small wonder!
11:36 am
Right on – good way to think of it!
3:38 pm
Love this one too, Hyatt. Your writing style reminds me of an old favorite of mine, Chuck Swindoll.
The two things that made me ponder the most were: “any entitlement” and of course the last one about “smallness” (since I’m just over 5 feet, having been “small” all my life, that was a BIG thing to think about- no more “smallness”- great stuff.) The fact that I’m printing out the list should tell you something.
6:14 pm
I am thoroughly enjoying this! To so much of this I say “Oh yes! Of course!” and then wonder why I didn’t think of this or put it so eloquently. Maybe I need more introspection and less self doubt.
Thanks!
11:12 pm
So true with “considering the old days were better.” I see this with my involvement in the car restoration world. Folks really seem to think that the glory days were the best. Oh, really? It’s an illusion that’s so easily bought into by today’s older, nostalgic boomers.
Contrarywise, pondering the failures of the old days is equally as empty. Knowing what once was is one thing, but embracing the voices of the past and allowing them to define you, definitely NOT what we want more of in 2012!
Great list, Hyatt.
8:29 am
Monks in the Middle ages used to call this the “via negativa”; i.e. cultivating an aversion to all that is patently unpleasing to God. Like working with negative space in a painting.
11:40 am
This is an interesting exercise. For certain I would be better off with less material “stuff,” and with less worry and less stress, neither of which I seem to have too much of at the moment, praise God. But for a person like me who only rather late in life learned how to view the glass as half full rather than half empty, every time I begin to consider what I might contribute to your already thorough wish for less list, my mind drifts off toward the more again. I think I will just let it stay there for now.
8:19 pm
I love the list you made. Since I can identify with it, I will also make it my own.
4:17 pm
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” Mt 5:3. When we follow this principle we read in Scripture,in my opinion, we can never be small.
9:38 pm
Sometimes, it’s helpful to define what something is not, to determine what it is, or what it should be. Thanks for your encouragement to be free to explore the whole spectrum.