Thought for today:
"It's okay to have your head in the clouds, so long as you also have your feet firmly on the ground.
When I was growing up, I was very fortunate to have a mother, who although a realist in many ways, was also a dreamer. She would make her everyday decisions with both head and heart, but whenever the two came into conflict she would always follow her heart. It took me many years to discover why this was so.
It was as if in the midst of all her ignorance she had discovered a knowledge of which only the heart can know; the one who looks outside, dreams, but who looks inside, awakens. Throughout her life, her heart never hardened, her temper never tired and her compassion never abandoned her. My mother knew that all grand thoughts first spring from the heart and though the mind sometimes forgets the good things in life, that gratitude is the heart's indelible memory at the end of the day when we give thanks for all we have.
'Always look after your heart, Billy', she would counsel. 'Always keep it open.' I often wondered if someone had told her that Chinese proverb that when you leave a bough open, the singing bird will come to occupy it. It was as though she was teaching me by example that when one listens to their heart, one is listening to that part of oneself that is most interested in one's own well being. Mum's head was always in the clouds as it kept her continuously closer to her heart and heaven bound." William Forde: December 9th, 2015.