THIS ARTICLE WAS FOUND ON LINDSAY’S DESK IN HER APARTMENT

Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon, pink saffron and butter yellow. Each different colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue.

Five acres of the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen.

Who planted all these I asked Julie?

It’s just one woman Julie answered. She lives on the property. That’s her home and she pointed to a well kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory.

We walked up to the house and on the little patio we saw a poster.

Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking.

50,000 bulbs

one at a time

by one woman

2 hands 2 feet

and very little brain

Began in 1958

There it was – The Daffodil Principle

For me that moment was a lifechanging experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met who more than thirty five years before had begun one bulb at a time to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top.

Still this unknown old woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of magnificent beauty and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

Learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time often just one baby step at a time.

Learning to love the doing.

Learning to use the accumulation of time.

When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

It makes me sad in a way I admitted to Julie. What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty.five years ago and had worked away at it one bulb at a time through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve.

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her direct way. Start tomorrow Mom. She said Its so pointless to think of the lost hours of our yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson a celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask.

How can I put this to use today.

Use the Daffodil Principle.

Stop waiting –

Until your car or home is paid off.

Until you get a new car or home.

Until your kids leave the house.

Until you go back to school.

Until you finish school.

Until you clean the house.

Until you organize the garage.

Until you clean off your desk.

Until you lose 10 lbs.

Until you gain 10 lbs.

Until you get married.

Until you get a divorce.

Until you have kids.

Until the kids go to school.

Until you retire.

Until summer.

Until spring.

Until winter.

Until fall.

Until you die.

There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey not a destination.

-Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards, Author