When the fog lingers, what matters?
When it snows in April, what matters?
When the sun scorches the desert, what matters?
When words wound, what matters?
When a point puzzles instead of persuades, what matters?
When rhetoric is reduced to rubbish, what matters?
When wishes wash away, what matters?
When wants win over needs, what matters?
When work is wasted, what matters?
When an outburst reveals nothing, what matters?
When an outcry is shushed, what matters?
When a loud voice is just noise, what matters?
When rest is out of reach, what matters?
When heartbreak is slow to heal, what matters?
When night falls but silence never comes, what matters?
When an act is joyless, what matters?
When actions fall short, what matters?
When acting obscures being, what matters?
When Freud and Jung disagree, what matters?
When the final analysis is ambiguous, what matters?
When uncertainty is the only evidence, what matters?
When religions have no answers, what matters?
When faith falters, what matters?
When trust breaks, what matters?
When policy puts people last, what matters?
When politics precedes public service, what matters?
When principle puts a premium on dignity, what matters?
When a hero fumbles, what matters?
When a master stumbles, what matters?
When a pillar crumbles, what matters?
You. Me. Us. Today. Here. Now. To love. To be loved.
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We live in a time when there are numerous distractions and half-truths. When statistics tell us nothing. When fact-checking doesn’t always lead to the facts. When the real and artificial blend. When glitter and glare can blur our vision. Is it at times difficult to tell what does and does not matter? Why? How do you decide what matters? Do you have a choice in what matters to you? Do you pursue what matters?
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This post was inspired by a post from Eva Evolving.
Image by webzer
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
You are right that at times it is difficult to tell what does and does not matter; we may be clouded by people and things around us. We are clouded by our own views and perspectives. But I believe we do have a choice in what matters; end of the day, it is choosing some of what matter and choosing to let go of others that matter.
Belinda — I loved how you wrote this and my immediate response to some of the words. For example, “When an outcry is shushed, what matters?” I wanted to go “wait a minutes…this matters, but it depends on the outcry, doesn’t it?
All I can say is that when I am uncertain about what really matters, I have to rely on my “gut” or my intuition. When I wrote my post on fairness, I regretted leaving this idea out. Listen to my intuition lets me know when something really matters and when I should should let go Sometimes this is harder than I think.
Great post…thanks:~)
Wonderful expression here. I’m at a point in my develelopment that what matters to me is authentic connections with people. I have all these beautiful ideas that I have found in my life as things that matter and I feel are important for me, but at the same time I need to share this experience with people to really get it out there and feel like my ideas are part of a greater whole operating from light.
Oh my goodness, Belinda! I’ve be re-reading and pondering this lovely poem most of the day. And then finally, when I come back to comment, I scroll down and see you’ve referenced my post from last week. What an honor, to think your deep and thoughtful post was somehow inspired by my words.
Yes. Love matters. Love for oneself. Love for family and friends. Love for humankind. When we peel away all the layers, the masks, the artificial world of today, what matters is our deep connections to others.
Belinda,
Thanks for the post.
Here are a few things that I think matter:
Following your heart
Following your inner guidance
Following your passion
Self-respect
Respect for others
Being your own judge
Living in the present
Loving as much as you can
Gratitude
Hi Belinda! Wow – that is one awesome poem – passionate! I read that several times. Maybe everything matters and nothing matters? What matters to somebody may not stir mattering to me – vice versa. All in all love matters – and it should matter to everyone! Great post! Lotsa thinkin’ goin’ on……….it’s all good!
hugs
suZen
Your gut.
The way you trust it.
The food and
The breath you feed it.
What matters is following that spark within that guides me to connect with friends, family, and people I meet along the way. What matters is following my passion to put words on paper and share them with others. What matters is being grateful for this life I get to lead every day. What matters most is love.
Thank you for making me think about what matters.
Belinda -
This is a big question. What does matter? In a universal scale, everything today, this year, in our lifetime, on this planet is merely a blink of an eye. Yet we have to live in our own scale. Doing what increases the cosmic karma, grows the energy and increases the joy is what matters. However small, doing the right thing, making the tough but authentic choices is what really matters. And that is why being asked the question is so powerful.
Phil
Hi Belinda,
I mostly determine what matters with my heart. People are what matter most to me. A passion for making a contribution matters. An appreciation for life and the wonderment of it all matters. Love matters.
I feel I do pursue what matters in that my life is pretty aligned with these above things that matter most to me.
I love that we all get to choose what matters most.
Another fantastic post! I always like visiting!
Warm regards,
Lauren
What matters? I find the answer to this question differs from day-to-day depending on my state of mind, life experiences and the people who surround me at that time. However, there are a few common threads that never seem to change. And for that, I am grateful!
Thanks for another thought-provoking post!
“What matters?” is the one question that dogs me day in day out. Belinda, it’s like you looked into my brain or something! Eerie…
I don’t know what matters. What matters tends to find me wherever I’m at, and only then do I actually face it and deal with it. If I see someone in distress, what matters? Their distress or my awkwardness that says to avoid them? I find that I must answer that question then.
Hi Belinda,
What a beautiful poem!
Life is so fast and sometimes the demands appear to be so much that people lose sight of what matters. Actually, I think a root of this problem is money. We live in a world where everything is rooted (or so it seems) in money. I think if people knew and trusted and believed that they could make a living and yet be happy, the world would change. If people knew that they could have a life that they love and yet be financially okay, a whole lot of misery would be gone.
I have traveled to parts of the world where people have one tenth of what we have here and I swear that they happier. Sometimes we allow our possessions to own us as opposed to us owning them.
So here’s to knowing what matters and going for it!
Great poem Belinda!
I think we need to ask ourselves more often, “what really does matter in life.” Seems we take the unnecessary things too seriously and we don’t put enough weight on the things that matter the most! Thanks you so much!!
I know when I am particularly upset or angry I try the exercise of asking what matters. Usually, when I find a place of calm, I realize my emotional response wasn’t warranted. I think it is essential to ask this question in our personal lives as well. It eliminates the personal clutter, whether it be things or people, in hopes of paving a way to clarity.
this is absolutely beautiful. We get so caught up in life that we forget to live. It is so important to live internally as well as externally. So much that we put stock in doesn’t really matter in the big scheme of things.