Mr. Rogers is my hero - he inspires me with his wise, gentle nature. I recently watched the movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks. What a phenomenal story about human pain and compassion.
I’d like to live just ten minutes of my life like Mr. Rogers. His heart and mind were so wide open. Despite a rough childhood, he found a way to let go of bitterness so compassion could rise up to help make the world a better place.
I loved what he said about his show, “We are trying to give children positive ways to deal with their feelings.” Because our feelings are the rudder of our experience, it's important to find ways to deal with them or we’ll sink into a swamp of negativity.
The movie is about what Mr. Rogers contributed to the world, and it’s loosely based on an article Tom Junod wrote for the Esquire magazine. The story tells how Junod was able to heal his painful feelings because of the time he spent interviewing Fred Rodgers. Mr. Rodgers espouses our feelings are not us – we are much bigger than them, and they are manageable.
Mr. Rogers wanted to make the world a better place - I do, too. He knew to see a difference around him, he had to be that difference. By his example I know I can create change in myself by doing these Three Things:
Pay attention to my feelings
Let go of things
Shift my focus
When I do these it creates a shift in me and around me!
Fred Rogers didn’t push his bad feelings away he acknowledged them; he said he dealt with them by banging on the piano or swimming laps in a pool. He was able to let his feelings go and they floated into the air or away in the pool. This allowed him to shift his focus back to love and helping others.
I know facing my feelings, letting go of things I can’t change, and shifting my focus are the most important and powerful things I can do at any given moment in my life because this changes me and my world.