"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness can never decreases by being shared." -Buddah
This quote has meant a great deal to me for 12 years. It is written on the inside of every planner I own, often times on my hands when I'm having a hard day, I even wrote it in Sharpie on my bedroom wall once in pubescent misery that I didn't think would ever end. Through any difficult time, I have turned to these words. I have repeated the above words in my head so many times that it was hard when the time came for me to try to say it in 5 different ways. I kept going back to the original wording over and over again, and that's when I realized that I never allowed myself to understand the deeper meaning of it. I accepted these words on the surface, but never allowed myself to form a deeper relationship with them. So, these are my attempts at saying this quote in five different ways:
1. Light and happiness can be spread with little effort from the source of said energy.
2. Others' happiness will never take away from your own.
3. Spread your personal candle's light as much and as often as you can.
4. Without some source light and happiness cannot spread, or exist for that matter.
5. Radiate love in all things that you do, it is effortless. Then, all of that love will radiate back to you.
Of all the ways that I came up with to say this quote differently, the last one is my favorite. This exercise has helped me immensely in forming a deeper meaning and relationship with this quote. For years I've thought that this quote meant one thing, but now I've learned that it means something vastly different. Not that the quote is any different, but I am. Majorly thanks to this prompt I have learned what Buddah may have actually meant by this. No energy can be lost if everything that you do is done with love and compassion. I used to think that this quote meant to put energy into making others happy, but this is self-destructive. I've been known to be the person that always takes on others' burdens, and absorb too much of other people into myself. In my new understanding of this quote it has become even more special to me, because now I understand that helping others only to hurt yourself is a destructive way to live. If you simply let your candle's light burn bright enough, it will ignite others without diminishing yours.
