The Secret Garden was written by English-American author and playwright Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924). It was originally serialized in The American Magazine in 1909 and 1910 and was then published as a book in 1911.
Originally published in 1924, The Boxcar Children is a children’s book series originally created and written by the American first-grade school teacher, Gertrude Chandler Warner.
As a youngster, these were my two all-time favorite books, and I finished rereading The Secret Garden today. I marvel at how we are shaped without noticing it. Or perhaps, it is more accurate to see our soul’s destiny has been pulling us along all along.
“In each century since the beginning of the world wonderful things have been discovered. In the last century more amazing things were found out than in any other century before. In this new century hundreds of things still more astounding will be brought to light. At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they see it can be done- then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago. One of these things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts- just mere thoughts- are as powerful as electric batteries- as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison. To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. If you let it stay there after it has got in you may never get over it as long as you live.” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
When I was Founding Director of Holistic Alliance I would often be asked to lecture about holistic health and the weaving together of body, mind, and spirit. Many times I said, “All new ideas are met with three distinct phases: First, they are ridiculed. Then, they are resisted. Eventually, they are accepted as the norm.”
Searching some of the key words nestled within this idea, I found The Three Phases of a Great Idea, by Peter H. Diamandis :
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It turns out that there’s a predictable process for the evolution of great and breakthrough ideas. Ideas that are revolutionary.
I learned about this process from Sir Arthur C. Clarke, inventor of the geostationary communication satellite and author of dozens of best-selling science-fiction books, including 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s I had the great honor to know Arthur C. Clarke, he was “Uncle Arthur” to me, Bob Richards, and Todd Hawley: the three co-Founders of International Space University.
Clarke described three phases of a great idea:
1. In the beginning, people will tell you that the idea is “crazy”—that it will never work.
2. Next, people will say: “Well, it might work but it’s not worth doing.”
3. Finally, they’ll say: “I told you that it was a great idea all along!”
Terri McClernon is a “Dharma Sister” and we have spent many years in classes and at meditation retreats together. A few years ago, Terri gifted me a Notched Fairy Cooking Wand, hand crafted by Harry Clarke of Kitchen Carver. I am OFTEN baking cookies for friends, and I ALWAYS use my Fairy Wand.
Imagine my surprise and delight yesterday morning when I fired up the oven to heat the house a bit after overnight temperatures dropped down below sixty degrees Fahrenheit and I noticed a heart on my Fairy Wand!
A winding path led me to listen to an episode of the ‘Gina Gardiner & Friends Show’ – this episode featured Mitzi Perdue and the theme was ‘A New Perspective On The War In Ukraine’. Mitzi had just returned from her third trip to the Ukraine as a war correspondent. I heard her speak of how the Russians are using weaponry to launch bombs containing hundreds of land mines each into prime agricultural lands. This prevents the growing of food to feed the people and it paralyzes the future economy of the country.
Would I have listened with the same presence if I had not just learned that Mitzi was a colleague and friend of Linda, my beloved friend who died July 5? This from her online bio: Mitzi Perdue has had a lifelong fascination with what it takes to lead the best life.
And:
She got to watch up close and personal how her father co-founded and was President of the Sheraton Hotel chain, and she also got to watch how her late husband, Frank Perdue, built his father-and-son chicken company into a company that today employees 21,000 people.
And:
In December of 2022, she auctioned her Atocha emerald engagement ring for $1.2 million, with all the proceeds going to benefit Ukraine.
I confess to feeling like I know Mitzi, although I had never even heard of her — let alone knowing about her friendship with Linda or her work in Ukraine — until a few days ago.
Terri has plans for starting a mobile soup kitchen. You can watch more about the vision for The Food Fairy® Mobile Soup Kitchen.
Imagine what we might see accomplished through Mitzi and Terri and people like us if we all use the Fairy Wand of our hearts and live by Colin’s motto in The Secret Garden): “I shall never stop making Magic.”
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