Can You Have It All?

My son started school this year and in an effort to be an involved parent I signed on to read to the class for half an hour each Monday.

In my effort to be involved and do something for the kids today, I have discovered the hidden treasure in the task.

As I arrived today the teacher pointed the way into the classroom and to the desk where she had put the reading book. Getting closer I noticed how old the book was, and upon picking it up I discovered that it was an old fable that I had read more than 30 years ago.

The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse begins with the town mouse arriving to visit the country mouse and partaking of plain but good food and fresh water, at which he chides the country mouse and insists he visit his Majesty’s Palace, the home of Town Mouse. He tells of marvelous morsels and sweets and treats available to him.

They travel to the palace and upon entering immediately start to feast upon said treats until a dog and cat turn up and scare them away and the servants enter to remove the remnants of the feast.

Once quiet returns Town Mouse tries to convince Country Mouse that he should pack up his meager belongings and leave his poor home with its bland food and plain water to live with him in the town.

Country Mouse responds with a sentence that set my thoughts in motion and led to this writing. He says ‘What good is elegance without ease, or plenty with an aching heart.’

Now while the teacher of those children in that classroom went on to discuss the 5 senses, mainly the senses of smell and sight, I walked out of that classroom pondering one small sentence ‘what good is plenty with an aching heart?’

It’s a question of life balance and one many of us are trying to figure out today. Obviously it’s a question that has plagued mankind for many years and will continue for a few more yet.

Remember the 1980’s when ‘greed was good’ and there was no balance in life. You worked as many hours as you needed to, to have all the things you wanted to have to prove your social status and keep up with the neighbors.

This continued to some degree through the 1990’s and even to some small extent today but there is now an ever growing movement of those who are finding some semblance of life balance. Today you can find mums like me working on the deck overlooking the river (as I am today) and taking an hour away from the laptop to contribute some time to her child’s class, you can find the father who searches for and finds the perfect home business opportunity so that he can be there when his kids wake and when they lay their heads down for the night. Finally we are starting to act on our long held desires to have a life not just make a living.

You might also notice the growing interest in the law of attraction and the belief that you can create your life any way you want it.

Today the Country Mouse might well be saying ‘you can have the elegance and the ease, the plenty with the full and open heart. You can have it all’.