Accept No Substitutes

Embracing the miracle of now.

Photo by Florian Roost on Unsplash

The Slinky

You know the Slinky, right? It's that springy toy that can walk downstairs by itself and even seem to float in the air.

As a kid, it seemed amazing. Though it was invented in the 1940s it is still around today.

In the commercials, they would show all the remarkable things it could do and then finish with the admonition…

💥 Accept No Substitutes!

Encouraging kids only to buy the original Slinky.

With any popular toy, there are often knockoffs, and Slinky was no exception.

We didn’t have a lot of money growing up. My mom would save money wherever she could.

My brother and I wanted a slinky, and she got us what she could afford, which was a slinky ‘like’ toy though not from the original manufacturer.

It was fun…for about a day, and then it broke.

Years later, I received an authentic one as a prize. There was no comparison. Even my younger brother, who was capable of breaking any toy, couldn’t break it.

Accept no substitutes, indeed.

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Don’t Settle

by Gideon Hough

Don't settle for a pale copy of reality-

scratching your life on tracing paper 

instead of splashing your own colours  

upon the expectant canvas of the world. 

Don't settle for a blurred vision of existence-

hyperventilating among the tangled of your busyness 

instead of slowly, deeply inhaling 

the limitless miracle of now.

---

We don’t want to draw out our life on tracing paper over another life or illusion.

Or miss the moments in busyness and hurry.

Be present in this one and only reality.

As the poet encourages us, we should accept no substitutes for the magical reality we are experiencing—the present unrepeatable moment of now.

Accept No Substitutes