“You no never mean to me…You a good person”
While babysitting and hanging out with my best-good friends’ children, I was picking and prodding pomegranate seeds from the shell, having picked some fresh from the girl’s backyard.
While the youngest, age just 2, was eating hers from a bowl while watching kid shows on the couch, the older, smirkier child stood next to me, standing on her step-stool to equal the counter height.
She finished her small bowlful, and held it out wordlessly to me. I looked over as if to have none, but she knew better, and I gave in to her smile-gaze and dropped a handful of fresh red seeds into her bowl. Without a thank you she began to eat some again, and then said this to me:
“You a good person. You no never mean to me. You always nice to me. You a good person.”
And for someone who was never quite sure this was true, these words spoken by the little brown-haired girl have pretty much made my life feel more whole, more complete, and more….more.
I have never felt so adored for being just me in my entire life, really, and had never found those words inside of me for me. I thank that princess of a small child with the skinny arms and legs, and hope she, too, tells herself those sentiments time and time again. I wish we all had that inner child next to us with those affirmations and wisdom, because really, that’s what it boils down to.
“You no never mean to me.”
“You always nice to me.”
“You a good person.”
I couldn’t have said it better.
by Stephen Mintz
“Stephen is a freelance writer, film and entertainment worker, event planner, film festival programmer, and, well, mercenary. If there’s a passion for a project, Stephen is that guy who helps make it come to pass. When he’s not doing any of the above (which really takes very little time, actually), he’s watching tv, eating, or sleeping. Mostly sleeping. So it’s a wonder why he’s still single, right?…”
Stephen’s Blog: Living Out Loud
Kindly contributed to Zen Moments by the author.
Photo: Pomegranate Flower by Lars Hammar
The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness
By Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Eric Swanson
Average customer review: 
“Compelling, readable, and informed.” —Buddhadharma
“Rinpoche’s investigations into the science of happiness are woven into an accessible introduction to Buddhism” —Tricycle
“There is real wisdom here. Fresh and clear. Mingyur Rinpoche has offered us what may well be an essential link between the Buddha and contemporary neuroscience and physics. He effortlessly makes connections between seemingly disparate and complex disciplines, and makes the journey sparkle. His voice is generous, intimate, and refreshingly personal. As he repeatedly reminds us, our experience of ourselves and our world is none other than an interactive projection of our mind; and most important, our minds can change. Our neurons can change structure and function, merely by observing the flow of our mental activity. Through repeated familiarity with positive mind states, such as love and compassion, and by transforming our limiting mental conceptualizing into vast freedom, we can achieve the already present basic mind of clarity and knowing—true happiness. Read this book.” —Richard Gere
“An extraordinarily clear book on the whys and the hows of cultivating mindfulness effectively in our lives. It makes use of the idiom and exciting discoveries of modern science in ways that are easy to understand and entirely relevant to the meditation practices themselves.” —Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Coming to Our Senses and vice-chair of the Mind and Life Institute
“The first of its kind . . . a truly compelling and infinitely practical fusion of Tibetan Buddhism and scientific ideas. Mingyur Rinpoche is a teacher for our time, uniquely gifted to bridge these two worlds.” —Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying