I had the displeasure this last month (Aug 2007) of watching myself lose as much as 14% of the value of all my stocks. While I am saddened by my losses at the stock market, I would think that this is the golden opportunity to convert 2/3rds of my savings languishing in cash (aka money market accounts), into blue-chip stocks available at significant discounts. A friend even said to me - Ah! this is that part of your life when you have the option of not being so conservative. I agreed of course.
Enters my wife with a good argument - "First, make up for your 14% losses, and only then should you think of investing any more in the stock market. " If only someone could convince her, that my whole point of leaving much of my savings in cash accounts instead of putting it all in the stock-market, was to grab opportunities such as the one right now. If the stock market recovers that 14% I've lost, then I've already missed the opportunity. I gave it a shot or two convincing her, and then saw myself revisiting familiar territory -> "shutting the mind to calm the heart" -> In other words, rather than fight my better half, sometimes I let the golden opportunity pass. That's when every inch of my body from my throat to my heart feels calm. As for the mind .. that's shut of course.
Meanwhile, those of you who don't quite know about my plans for buying a home - I am a staunch believer in the housing collapse (at least in Virginia) extending through 2011 at the very least. Yet, I have just promised my wife that by this time next year (Aug 2008), we'll likely have bought a home. Did I just shut my mind when saying that? You bet.
Isn't there a term for those that give up this way? I think the parlance in some quarters is "loser". So why am I romanticizing that concept? You may be lucky enough to know it already. If you aren't, stay with me for another 5 lines and perhaps you might be lucky enough to understand.
Ever thought why our parents go through such a struggle bringing us up? Why do they choose to feel the pain of looking into our eyes when, as children, we are lying silent with a 102 F reading? Why do they love us so unconditionally when as teenagers we bang the door behind us and withdraw into our own? Wouldn't such parents also be termed.. "losers"? Would any deep thinking adult be a parent? The most likely answer is -> Parents don' t think that way.
Anyway, what's the connection between parental love and shutting one's mind? The connection is quite simple - when you love someone so much, what's it worth what the mind says? Perhaps each of us is destined to grab only certain golden opportunities that pass by, not every opportunity. Why else would the Lord above, who in the first place tosses these golden opportunities by our side, choose to hand us company that would resent these opportunities?
Forget the mind every often. Just let love melt and flow. Let peace reign!
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