That’s right…a snail for hope. I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, how does a snail conjur an image of hope? I was also skeptical until several months ago when a friend of my mom’s’ mother passed away. My daughter had met the woman who passed so my mom asked if Z would draw one of her beautiful pictures with a sweet message to send to the woman who was deeply mourning this loss. I expected Z to draw one of her amazingly colorful and happy flowers, but much to my surprise, she drew a snail and in the snail’s trail, she wrote the word, “hope.” This is just how skeptical I was about this choice of a representation of hope: It’s taken me at least four months to realize how right on Z is.
Think about a snail; moving…very…very…slowly through life. Its goal is to find the next tasty leaf to munch on, then move on, but the journey is arduous: just one small movement forward at a time; however, wherever the snail goes, it leaves it’s mark. Yes, those who are avid gardeners, of which I am not a member, abhor the mark, the snail, for the destruction and damage the snail does, but the snail, just keeps….on….going. Isn’t this the purpose of life? Figuring out what kind of mark you will leave? What will stop you from leaving your mark? What happens if someone comes along and destroys the mark you left? Will you just opt to leave another or curl up and die?
In life, we face all types of obstacles and, as we have heard ad nauseam, “The size of your dream is determined by the obstacles that stop you.” (Anon) Some of us are stopped by a hangnail while others it takes an 18-wheeler hauling another 18-wheeler hauling another and so on. You get the idea. You may even be starting to think about what obstacles are stopping YOU from getting to your goal. Good. You should. The snail, as you’ll see below, should take away all excuses.
Back to our snail. Think of ALL the obstacles that could stop our snail: movement that’s likely at least 100x slower than desired, being hated, despised and destroyed by many, and leaving your mark on the world only to have it cleaned up and forgotten, to name a few. ONE of these would stop most of us in our goal track. Yet the snail, slow, unloved, forgotten, keeps moving forward, hard shell protecting its soft heart. The snail creates a new, fresh mark and doesn’t mourn or bemoan the loss of the old mark.
Did my daughter think of all of this when she chose the snail? Perhaps, but likely not. While she does have a bit of an old soul when it comes to life, when asked why the snail, she answered, “Because it’s soooooo cuuuuute!!!” She saw the snail’s soft heart beneath its hard shell. She saw a creature, unloved by so many, as one who was deserving of love. She saw the trail, vigorously erased by some, as a trail of hope.
What trail are you leaving, my Heroes? What hope can you give to another, no matter how small? What obstacles will you ignore and what will you let stop you? When they do, remember the snail, small, soft-hearted, hard-shelled, determined; moving one small step at a time, but always forward and always leaving a mark, a memory.
Leave your mark, your comments below...tell us, my Heroes, about your trail, no matter the material. Remember for some of you Heroes, simply taking a breath each day is the hope YOU give to someone else. Sometimes, you need nothing else to be the HEROES you already are.
In Hope & Snail Trails,
Lora Ackermann
Your Snail-Hope Hero Trainer
Think about a snail; moving…very…very…slowly through life. Its goal is to find the next tasty leaf to munch on, then move on, but the journey is arduous: just one small movement forward at a time; however, wherever the snail goes, it leaves it’s mark. Yes, those who are avid gardeners, of which I am not a member, abhor the mark, the snail, for the destruction and damage the snail does, but the snail, just keeps….on….going. Isn’t this the purpose of life? Figuring out what kind of mark you will leave? What will stop you from leaving your mark? What happens if someone comes along and destroys the mark you left? Will you just opt to leave another or curl up and die?
In life, we face all types of obstacles and, as we have heard ad nauseam, “The size of your dream is determined by the obstacles that stop you.” (Anon) Some of us are stopped by a hangnail while others it takes an 18-wheeler hauling another 18-wheeler hauling another and so on. You get the idea. You may even be starting to think about what obstacles are stopping YOU from getting to your goal. Good. You should. The snail, as you’ll see below, should take away all excuses.
Back to our snail. Think of ALL the obstacles that could stop our snail: movement that’s likely at least 100x slower than desired, being hated, despised and destroyed by many, and leaving your mark on the world only to have it cleaned up and forgotten, to name a few. ONE of these would stop most of us in our goal track. Yet the snail, slow, unloved, forgotten, keeps moving forward, hard shell protecting its soft heart. The snail creates a new, fresh mark and doesn’t mourn or bemoan the loss of the old mark.
Did my daughter think of all of this when she chose the snail? Perhaps, but likely not. While she does have a bit of an old soul when it comes to life, when asked why the snail, she answered, “Because it’s soooooo cuuuuute!!!” She saw the snail’s soft heart beneath its hard shell. She saw a creature, unloved by so many, as one who was deserving of love. She saw the trail, vigorously erased by some, as a trail of hope.
What trail are you leaving, my Heroes? What hope can you give to another, no matter how small? What obstacles will you ignore and what will you let stop you? When they do, remember the snail, small, soft-hearted, hard-shelled, determined; moving one small step at a time, but always forward and always leaving a mark, a memory.
Leave your mark, your comments below...tell us, my Heroes, about your trail, no matter the material. Remember for some of you Heroes, simply taking a breath each day is the hope YOU give to someone else. Sometimes, you need nothing else to be the HEROES you already are.
In Hope & Snail Trails,
Lora Ackermann
Your Snail-Hope Hero Trainer