The DAILY SPARK Blog

BEING UNDERESTIMATED…

Contests reveal character, and in one instant classic monologue, Ted Lasso hustles a game of pub darts against the oligarchic and philandering former owner of the club while explaining,

“Guys have underestimated me my entire life.  And for years, I never understood why.  It use to really bother me.  But then one day, I was driving my little boy to school and I saw this quote by Walt Whitman, and it was painted on the wall there.  It said, ‘Be curious, not judgmental.’  I like that.  So I get back in my car and I’m driving to work, and all of a sudden it hits me.  All them fellas that used to belittle me, not a single one of them were curious.  You know, they thought they had everything all figured out.  So they judged everything, and they judged everyone.  And I realized that their underestimating me … who I was had nothing to do with it.”

Quote by Ted Lasso from the TV Series TED LASSO

The series follows Ted Lasso, an American college football coach who is hired to coach an English soccer team in an attempt by its owner to spite her ex-husband. Lasso tries to win over the skeptical English market with his folksy, optimistic demeanor while dealing with his inexperience in the sport.

REFLECTION:

  • Have you been underestimated?
  • Do you underestimate others?
  • Are you curious?

YOU ARE LIGHT

You are a light.  You are the light.  Never let anyone – any person or any force – dampen, dim or diminish your light.  Study the path of others to make your way easier and more abundant.  Lean toward the whispers of your own heart, discover the universal truth, and follow its dictates.  Release the need to hate, to harbor division, and the enticement of revenge.  Release all bitterness.  Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won. Choose confrontation wisely, but when it is your time don’t be afraid to stand up, speak up, and speak out against injustice.  And if you follow your truth down the road to peace and the affirmation of love, if you shine like a beacon for all to see, then the poetry of all the great dreamers and philosophers is yours to manifest in a nation, a world community and a Beloved Community that is finally at peace with itself. 

Quote by John Lewis

ACROSS THAT BRIDGE: A Vision For Change And The Future Of America

Representative John Robert Lewis was an American statesman and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia’s 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He was a son of sharecroppers and an apostle of nonviolence who was bloodied at Selma and across the Jim Crow South in the historic struggle for racial equality, and who then carried a mantle of moral authority into Congress.  He was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from 1963 to 1966.

REFLECTION:

  • Such a powerful quote… just re-read it and reflect on it.
  • Do you need to:
    • release hate?
    • lean in to the whispers of your heart?
    • Stand up?
    • Speak out?
    • Show more love?

LEARNING

You don’t have to suffer to learn, but if you don’t learn from suffering then your life becomes truly meaningless.

Quote by Viktor Frankl from his book MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING

REFLECTION:

  • What have you learned from suffering?
  • How has that suffering made your life more meaningful?
  • Are you suffering now?  What are you refusing to learn?