I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.

　　My wife, daughter, and I moved into our home nine years ago and we spent a lot of time and energy in the yard to get it looking like it does today. We live on a corner, higher than street level, and the entire side of the yard is encased by a professionally built rock wall. The front of the house though is another story because instead of a wall along the sidewalk, the rocks appear to be just thrown up onto the dirt as if someone were in a hurry to finish.

　　We did the best we could with what we had to work with and called this area our ‘rock garden’. Whenever we had leftover flowers or plants, Denise or I would stick them out front, just to bring some color to the area.

　　I still do all of my own yard work, even the dreaded weed-pulling. After putting on my knee pads I assume the position to clear the yard of weeds, even in the rock garden.

　　Last summer I had reached the end of the rock garden and found a tiny little plant that I could not immediately identify, I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise claimed that she didn’t either. We decided to let it continue growing until we could figure out what it was.

　　Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the mystery plant, it appeared to be a Sunflower. It was spindly looking with a tall skinny stalk and only one head on it. I decided to baby it along and weed around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something unusual. The Sunflower had not started where I saw the stalk begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the sun.

　　That’s when I realized that if a tiny little Sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the capability of doing the same thing. Once our environment begins to see that we believe in ourselves like that little Sunflower, we can attain the same nourishment and nurturing as well.

　　First, we need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the capabilities in achieving our desires. Like the Sunflower, it knew it had the capability to overcome its obstacle because it trusted in the Universal Truth and had faith it would succeed.

　　Stand tall like the Sunflower and be proud of who and what you are and the environment will begin to support you. You will find a way to go under or around your big obstacle in order to reach your desires.

　　有時(shí)候我覺(jué)得很有意思，甚至連最平凡的事情都能夠?qū)ξ覀兊恼J(rèn)識(shí)產(chǎn)生影響。

　　九年前，我的妻子、女兒和我搬進(jìn)了現(xiàn)在的家，我們花了大量的時(shí)間和和精力整修我們的院子，讓它看起來(lái)像今天這個(gè)樣子。我們住在一個(gè)拐角處，比街道的水 平面要高。院子的外側(cè)圍著一面砌得很講究的石墻。盡管房子的前邊是另一碼事——因?yàn)檠厝诵械佬藿ǖ牟皇且幻鎵?，而是在泥地上草草壘起?lái)的石頭堆，好像是什 么人匆忙趕工完成的。

　　我們竭盡所能來(lái)做我們必須做的工作，并把這個(gè)地方叫做我們的“巖石花園”。每當(dāng)我們?cè)谶@里種上花或其他植物，丹尼斯或者我就會(huì)讓它們伸到墻外，只是為了給這個(gè)地方增添一些色彩。

　　我還在做自己的庭院勞作，包括讓人生畏的拔雜草工作。我?guī)献o(hù)膝后，我便著手清理庭院雜草，即使是在巖石花園里。

　　去年夏天，我走到巖石花園的一端，發(fā)現(xiàn)一株我不能立刻認(rèn)出來(lái)的小植物。我知道我沒(méi)有在那里種植它。丹尼斯說(shuō)她也沒(méi)有種過(guò)。我們決定讓它繼續(xù)生長(zhǎng)，直到我們能搞清楚，它到底是什么植物。

　　幾周過(guò)去了，我回到那株神秘植物跟前，它好像是一棵向日葵。它還很纖細(xì)，長(zhǎng)著細(xì)高的莖桿，上面只有一個(gè)頭。我決定好好照看它，除去它周圍的雜草。當(dāng)我 把這個(gè)地方的石頭挪開(kāi)以便除草時(shí)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)有些異常情況。向日葵并不是從我發(fā)現(xiàn)莖桿的地方開(kāi)始生長(zhǎng)的。實(shí)際上，它從一塊大石頭下面開(kāi)始發(fā)芽、生長(zhǎng)，然后繞過(guò) 石頭，以獲取陽(yáng)光。

　　那時(shí)我認(rèn)識(shí)到，如果一棵小小的向日葵都沒(méi)有讓一塊大石頭擋住它成長(zhǎng)的路，那么我們同樣有能力做同樣的事情。一旦我們的環(huán)境開(kāi)始看到，我們像那棵小小的向日葵一樣相信自己，我們就能夠得到同樣的養(yǎng)分并且成長(zhǎng)起來(lái)。

　　首先， 我們需要相信自己， 認(rèn)識(shí)到我們有能力達(dá)到我們的愿望。就像向日葵那樣， 它知道它有能力去克服障礙， 因?yàn)樗嘈牌毡檎胬恚?并且相信它會(huì)成功。

　　只要你像向日葵一樣高高站著，為自己感到自豪，環(huán)境就會(huì)開(kāi)始支持你。為了達(dá)成愿望，你會(huì)在障礙下邊或其周圍找到一條出路。