Maybe you’ve heard the story “Acres of Diamonds” before. If you haven’t, you’re in luck! Here’s a very shortened version.

In ancient Persia, there was a man who had a big estate. He had orchards, gardens and fields. He was content and wealthy.
One day a Buddhist priest visited him and told him stories about people finding these things called diamonds, and if it was the size of your thumb you’d have enough money to buy a country. That night the man went to bed poor.

He became obsessed with diamonds and wanting what they would bring. So he sold his estate, left his family, took his money and went in search of those shiny stones. Years passed, he spent all his money and was in deep despair. He threw himself into a body of water and drowned.

A few days after, the same, even older priest went back to that man’s estate. The priest saw a diamond on the mantle and asked the new owner where he found it. The new owner told him, “oh, my creek is full of those shiny things.”

Sometimes people say things that aren’t helpful and we can choose to not be influenced by it.
Sometimes, we might need to look around and see what we have right in front of us…in our creek, in our backyard.

Last night I was at an event in my community where women volunteer and commit to manual labor for the greater good. After said ‘manual labor’ we shared a meal and this story came to mind. As the conversation amongst new and old friends got louder, I stood in awe looking at a community of diamonds.

What an incredible moment this was.

Now I’m wondering,
Where else can we find diamonds?!
What spaces can we create to have them keep showing up?
…More to come on this soon.

Mostly though, what’s one thing you can do to dig around and mine what you already have?