Diamond Mike Watson's Blog, page 20

Sharing the Same Experience – Part Two

 

We think we know everything. The ripple of a wave can be calculated by the impact of a dropped pebble. The crashing of a meteor on a nearby planet can be determined to the second. The temperature of a star in a distant galaxy can be determined by its color. There is a solid answer to everything.

But can we agree on something as immaterial as an experience?

I once clumsily misplaced a container of syrup back to its shelf before dashing out the door for work. Missing the ledge, the plastic vessel bounced onto the kitchen floor, squirting the sticky liquid upward onto my dress pants. It was quite funny to me, knowing that I had to make a quick change of clothes and wondering how I would explain my tardiness. To my wife, however, the event was irresponsible, avoidable, and non-amusing as she grabbed a cloth to clean the thick ooze from the tile.

Did two things happen? Should I have been angry like my wife? Should my wife have laughed with me? Can two people really agree on anything?

Is it possible for anyone to even share the same experience? In any circumstance of life, if several people are asked to write a sentence of what just happened, what answers would we receive?

Should we be so quick to believe anything that is written in our history books? What is the single cause for any conflict? Can one sentence explain why any earthly war was declared? Did it start from the leader of one country calling the leader of another a bad name? Did someone shove someone without saying they were sorry? I cannot answer that because I was not there. And if I was, I’m positive my perception of the event would be quite different than yours.

I believe every conscious being lives inside the sphere of his or her own reality. If that is true, how precious is it when we see eye to eye for even a few brief seconds. How wonderful when we simultaneously stand under the shade of the same umbrella, or when our personal bubbles briefly conjoin into a single bubble before it pops, or when we become like two water droplets that instantly combine to become a single droplet before evaporating into nothing.

You are welcome to step inside my universe whenever you like. I will not expect you to laugh every time I laugh or mourn every time I mourn. I will respect your feelings and your universe also. But for those brief encounters that we will share the same feelings, let’s say, “I am happy to experience this with you.”

Filed under: Amazing Today, Life Adventures, Philosophy, Tales of Imagination

Open your Eyes and Dream!

I was seven when I had my first lucid dream. Of course I didn’t know the official name, but I did sense “I know I am dreaming.” I was at the landing of our creaky staircase of my childhood home, three steps from the bottom. I saw my surroundings from my point of view, noticing my puerile legs and arms.

I knew it would be possible to run full force into the wall of the landing without getting hurt. With all my might, I charged head first into the solid obstruction. I imagined the impact, but I escaped unharmed as I woke underneath warm blankets.

 

Today it is rare that I dream lucidly. When I do, I never try to walk into fire or breathe underwater. But why not? While one is dreaming all things are possible. When I was seven, why didn’t I instead plan on passing effortlessly through the wall? Why didn’t I instead climb to the top of my house, then dive into flight with my arms spread like wings.

And have you ever dared to wonder if being awake is simply dreaming with our eyes open? Why do we constrain ourselves so much in our desire for love and success? Why do we allow illusions of disappointment and failure to seep into our brains?

I can count many events that have culminated as a consequence of focused thought. I have never traveled in outer space in a rocket simply because I have never had that intense or prolonged thought. I have envisioned each jewelry store I have built, complete with dramatic lighting, lavender accents, and thousands of customers. I have also envisioned hundreds of school kids with upraised arms, shouting that they can become anything they want in life. As these have come to pass I am not shocked, but rather realize they already existed in my mind. I simply summoned the events that were already there.

If you want more success or love or happiness in your life, keep those specific thoughts so sustained in your mind that you carry them into your sleep. If you dream lucidly, train your mind to reach for the out of reach and step beyond the imaginary borders that contain you. Your mind will figure out a way to make your dreams come true.

Filed under: Amazing Today, Childhood Memories, Life Adventures, Philosophy

Sharing the Same Experience – Part One

I am so thankful my wife, Carmen, and I can share this wonderful experience of the moon peeking through our trees.

As I drive west in the evening I admire the red orange sun making its last decent behind a mountain. At the same instant, it is possible that a person driving east may enjoy the birth of the full moon rising above leafy trees. Even if we travel together in the same direction, the sun may feel inviting to one yet glaring to the passenger. The moon may inspire wonder to one yet evoke loneliness to another.

No matter what stimulus confronts us, it is difficult for us to share the same experience simultaneously. How wonderful it is when we laugh, are in awe, or contemplate in unison. How beautiful the instant we collide into another’s universe like the notes of a symphony. We must relish these moments.

Every day, how many times have we misinterpreted rudeness for kindness, selfishness for generosity, or fear for courage? And why is it so difficult for us to agree on what we have experienced? Why does a particular image or sound bring joy to one and sadness to another? The answers to these questions continue to haunt and elude me. For now, during those rare occasions when we see eye to eye, I suggest we say, “I am glad you were here to experience this with me.”

Filed under: Amazing Today, Life Adventures, Philosophy

Sharing the Same Experience

I am so thankful my wife, Carmen, and I can share this wonderful experience of the moon peeking through our trees.

As I drive west in the evening I admire the red orange sun making its last decent behind a mountain. At the same instant, it is possible that a person driving east may enjoy the birth of the full moon rising above leafy trees. Even if we travel together, the sun may feel inviting to one yet glaring to another.

No matter what stimulus confronts us, it is difficult for us to share the same experience simultaneously. How wonderful it is when we laugh, are in awe, or contemplate in unison. How beautiful when we collide into another’s universe like the notes of a symphony. We must relish these moments.

Every day, how many times have we misinterpreted rudeness for kindness, selfishness for generosity, or fear for courage? And why is it so difficult for us to agree on what we have experienced? Why does a particular color or sound bring joy to one and sadness to another? The answers to these questions continue to haunt and elude me. For now, during those rare occasions when we see eye to eye, I suggest we say, “I am glad you were here to experience this with me.”

Filed under: Amazing Today, Life Adventures, Philosophy

Why the Umbrella?

People ask why I bring umbrellas to schools. It is because sometimes one must be dramatic to illustrate a point. When students raise the canopies above their heads, they know it is a symbol they are loved and that they can accomplish anything in life.

As the founder of the Why Mom Deserves a Diamond contest, it is remarkable to see hundreds of thousands of participants boosted to higher levels of self esteem. Would you agree that is a needed ingredient for our modern world?

FlyUp! is a fresh look at the power of positive thinking and is an inspirational program for all Orange County students. Teachers reserve your Career Day or entire school assembly.

Filed under: FlyUp!, Why Mom Deserves A Diamond

Secret Agent 27

I was also a secret agent! For twenty years I searched for clues and asked pointed questions to unravel the mystery of my birth mother. Who was she? Where did I come from? How did I get here?

I was a curious detective. I was an undercover spy. My only weapon was my determination to discover the truth.

Filed under: Adoption, FlyUp!, Life Adventures

Time Traveler

I’m also a time traveler! Yes. I can show you how to be that, too.

When you go out at night and see a beautiful star, did you know that you’re looking into the past? Because the star is so far away that it takes million of years for the light of the star to reach your eye. So when you’re looking at the star you’re not looking at what it looks like now. You’re looking at what it was millions of years ago.

You’re a time traveler.

From FlyUp! Carrillo Elementary in Westminster, CA. 2/2/2016.

Filed under: Amazing Today, FlyUp!, Life Adventures, Philosophy, Why Mom Deserves A Diamond

To those Who Love Us

Inside the womb, the outside arguments of anger and despair were muffled. I didn’t see the pain my birthmother must have experienced while I was protected inside her. During non-violent times, I know she sang to me through the walls of flesh that separated us. In the hospital, the sounds were replaced by the shuffling of nurses preparing to release me into a new world of light with its own set of wonders and challenges. The clipboard with the contract of relinquishment may have been placed on her belly above me. “Just sign here,” they probably said. My birthmother never saw me.

Three days later I would be transported over one hundred miles away to a place I would call home. I would be given parents. I would soon call them mommy and daddy. I never heard my birthmother’s lullaby again.

I cannot imagine what my life would have been like if I were never adopted. Although my years were filled with the void of not knowing from where I came, that dark abyss was Illuminated with the greatest love I could ever imagine. I was chosen. I was wanted.

If there is anything to be learned, it is that we are all who we are because we know we have been loved. It shapes us, defines us, and creates our essence. That is why the Why Mom Deserves a Diamond contest is so important to me and my staff. It is one of the few activities in our modern world in which we must stop, think, and ponder why our moms, and all those who love us, are significant in our lives.

Please help support this writing assignment that also fulfills school requirements for figurative language by telling a teacher or a friend, and by sharing with others.

Filed under: Adoption, Amazing Today, Why Mom Deserves A Diamond

Way Out There!

“Way Out There!”

Recently a schoolteacher described me affectionately as, “way out there.” After all, purple is not the favorite color of men who desire to make a difference in the world. Also, strutting into a school classroom with an opened black and white umbrella above ones head does not always command respect. Purple ties and huge umbrellas, however, make a statement, and sometimes one has to be dramatic to make a point.

In the FlyUp! presentation offered to all schools, my intention is to show that one can become whoever they aspire to become. Although many people are comfortable in the cozy confines of their perceived limitations, my intention is to offer others the possibility of being more of who they already are.

It creates controversy. It encourages people to think. It makes being human more satisfying and colorful than one can imagine. Being way out there, or as I sometimes say, stepping beyond yourself, inspires great things to happen. It clarifies our unlimited potential, it makes our dreams possible, and it makes our lives worth living.

I am reminded of a cartoon by Gary Larson in which a sheep was struck by a spark of revelation. He stood up in the pasture of his fellow sheep and announced, “Wait! Wait! Listen to me. We don’t have to be just sheep!”

Filed under: Amazing Today, FlyUp!, Life Adventures, Philosophy

Thank you, Team

Gallery of Diamonds’ showroom in Santa Ana, CA.

 

To everyone who works for me at Gallery of Diamonds and Why Mom Deserves a Diamond, Inc.

Happy 2016!

After years of planning, we built our new and larger jewelry store headquarters in Santa Ana. Most of you painted, hauled, swept, and wired the devices together. We were on KCAL9 news twice. We were featured in the Daily Pilot. We brought the FlyUp! program to several schools. We gave our finest presentations. We praised thousands of kids for their creative efforts and increased their sense of self-worth and esteem. We helped countless moms own a jewelry memory that will become a lifetime treasure.

We have all worked hard in our mission for greater contest participation. That dream came true from the increase of essays that poured in. I can already predict this year will be the greatest contest yet and will forever be nested in our memories. I am so thankful to have a loyal and brilliant team that shares my vision to create an experience for thousands of kids and their families that will fondly be remembered the rest of their lives.

From the depths of my heart, I thank you.

Filed under: Gallery of Diamonds, Why Mom Deserves A Diamond