01 May It doesn’t matter.
Let’s talk about risk, because risk is so nice. Once you begin to become hooked on risk , your whole life changes. But change and growth take place only when you’re willing to risk and experiment with your own life. You’re never sure of anything. Everything’s a risk.
I remember many years ago I sold everything that I had—much against everybody’s advice. I wanted to go around the world. I wanted to hear a crystal-clear temple bell in Nepal. I wanted to sit in a rice paddy in Thailand and talk to people, or at least hug them. And I did. I sold my insurance policy, my house, my car, everything I owned. And I went. People said, “Oh my goodness. You gave up your secure job. You’re never going to find another job. You’re going to starve when you come home.” I came home with about ten cents. I didn’t starve, I learned. So much important were the things that I learned. I learned about attitudes. In Bangkok they say mah-pen-lai. I heard people say, “mah-pen-lai” all over the place. I wondered, “What’s this mah-pen-lai stuff?” Finally, when I got acquainted with some Thai people, I said, “There’s a phrase I keep hearing in the place, in the airport, in the museums, on the canals, on the rivers, mah-pen-lai—what does it mean?” They sort of smiled, and said, “It means ‘it’s all right, it doesn’t matter.’ ” All in a sudden it dawned on me. My goodness! No wonder they’re called the land of smiles, if so many people can say, “It’s all right, it doesn’t matter.” And then I thought about our culture where everything matters. “What do you mean, it doesn’t matter?!If you think it doesn’t matter, it’s because you’re frivolous!” It doesn’t matter. The world will go on without you. Ninety percent of what we worry about doesn’t happen anyway. And we worry and we worry and we worry. And then we worry about worrying!
Living, Loving & Learning
Leo Buscaglia
Image: Thai Girl Portrait, by David Lazar, Thailand, Nikon D700 | http://www.photoburst.net/photo_section/photos/marked1200/thailand-thai-girl-portrait-nikon-d700-david-lazar.jpg
