If I had a thousand wishes, I'd waste them all on you.
I have been collecting wishes ever since I was young, much like people collect stamps and coins. I don't really use them. What is really worth spending a wish on? A real wish. One you know will come true.
"But Katie, wishes don't come true, they are just wishes."
First of all, shut up! Who asked you? Second, I believe that you make a wish and have it come true, if you put in some effort and do it right.
11:11
November 11th, 2011 11:09 AM. I sat in my university's library watching my computer. Two more minutes. My friends and I had discussed it several times over the last few weeks. For a full minute the clock would read 11/11/11 11:11. Just imagine the wish possibilities!
The rule, when it comes to 11:11, is that if you catch the clock at 11:11 exactly you can make any wish you want. The catch is that you have to catch it. You cannot greedily wait for it. But it isn't really cheating if you know it is coming up and just check every minute or so... is it?
I think the idea of making a wish on 11s comes from a couple of places. First of all 11 is a prime number and everyone knows prime numbers are lucky.... I don't know why , they just are.
Second, 11 is a significant number in the realm of energy healing and fortune telling. There is this belief that when the number 11 or multiple 11s together keep appearing in your daily life it means that significant things are about to happen with your destiny. Things like meeting your soul mate and stuff like that.
That is good news for all of you readers because you probably just saw the number 11 11 more times than usual.
Sounds like hokum? You do know that you are reading an essay about effective wishing, right?
"Tik."
The numbers on my screen changed from 11:10 to 11:11.
"GUYS!" I announced in what was probably a moderate volume but felt like screaming in the quiet section of the library where even speaking was frowned upon. "It is 11:11 on 11/11 2011! Everybody make a wish! I... um... I wish for peace and happiness all over the world!"
One of my more pedantic acquaintances drummed his finger on the desk a few rows of shelves away. "I thought these were wishes, not miracles."
"Right. I.... um.... I wish I had a coffee!"
11:12
"I wasted it."
About a half hour later I got up to retrieve the essay I had just finished writing from the printer, leaving my stuff sprawled on the table. I returned only a minute or two later but was greeted by a new item in my hoard. A white, hot liquids cup from the campus coffee shop sat next to my laptop. Steam drifted out of the drinking slot and it was still warm to the touch. My name scrawled across the side of the white cup.
"Guys! I got my wish!"
The first thing you need to consider when wishing is achievability. Remember, most of the things you wish on are small. You cannot possibly expect a lady bug or a shooting star or a single minute out of 1440 in a day to carry the solution for world hunger. It is too big. These are wishes,not miracles. So, your wish has to be something achievable, small. Just because something is small does not mean it cannot have a big impact on your life. It is the little things, after all, that make up our lives. Even a penny thrown into the water will create ripples.
There is another side to making a wish achievable and that is time. Do you really think a penny holds power over time and space? Time or space maybe but both? Wishing for a do-over, the opportunity to go into the past and change a single action will not work. The past has already happened and you cannot change it with a million pennies let alone one. The past has already happened so it is time to make wishes for the future, or small changes in the present.
Falling Stars
During the summer the sun stays out a long time, especially in the Pacific Northwest where I grew up. Somehow that doesn't stop us from enjoying warm summer nights. We enjoy late night bon fires, drive-in movies, and stargazing in the grass. It's wonderful.
I remember one night in middles school I went to the Rodeo Drive-in in Bremerton Washington with my friend Hailey. It is still open by the way. We sat on blankets in the grass out in front of the cars. The screen rising up above us.
I also remember glancing up at the night sky during the movie. Whenever I paint a night sky it is in shades of blue and purple all mixed together because that is the color of summer nights in the woods, not the deep blackness we grow used to in winter. Pin prick stars break through the shifting colors by the thousands. While I looked up a large green star appeared trailing a long tail behind it.
"Hailey, did you see that? It was the biggest shooting start I've ever seen!"
"Did you make a wish?"
Okay, science time. I understand that shooting stars are space objects, rocks and dust and things, entering the atmosphere and burning up. I know that they are not really stars falling from the heavens. They are still one of the most magical things I have ever seen. I even wear a necklace with a shooting star hanging off of it because I think they are beautiful and magical. Science aside, because who cares about science, there is a lot of lore surrounding shooting stars and making wishes.
In Greek lore shooting stars happen when the gods open up the sky to look down on humanity. Sometimes when that happens stars get jostled a little and fall out. Well, I would think it would be obvious that the best time to petition the gods is when you know they are actually looking so the tradition of wishing on stars was born.
Another equally interesting set of lore surrounding wishing on shooting stars is an old Arabic tradition that shooting stars may actually be d'jinnis in their true form. Genies for those of you who are more familiar with the Disneyfication of d'jinni lore. The facts on this were a little scarce so don't use me as a reputable source for your research paper on shooting stars. The idea is that d'jinni who are long living magical shape-shifters that grant wishes. but you have to be careful about how you word your wish because many of them are evil and the rest are tricksters, who in their true form appear like shooting stars. Both are blue with long tails, Disney got that part spot on. When you see a shooting star you may actually be seeing a free d'jinni flying across the sky and d'jinnis grant wishes.
If you really want to guarantee that your wish comes true then you will need to make a wish that you can make come true. I do not mean that it needs to be small or something you can just buy for yourself. I mean that you have to actually be willing to work for your wish.
Think about the old saying, be careful what you wish for, or if you grew up in the church, be careful what you pray for. The issue is not that you might get it, though that can be a problem. The real issue is that you will definitely receive opportunities to work for is. That's why you never EVER pray for patience.
Even Aladdin, when he wished to be a prince so he could be worthy of marrying Princess Jasmine, was only given the opportunity to prove his worth and make Jasmine fall in love with him.
So, if you make a wish and you are not really willing to make it come true then I can personally guarantee that it will not come true.
Of course, no amount of wishes in my collection will ever change the fact that the one thing I want to wish for whenever I get the chance is one thing that I can not make come true so I never know what to wish for. I waste all of my wishes. However, if you know the rules for a simple and effective wish you can make a wish that will come true because you have a brief opportunity to think of what it is in this world that you really really want.
Comentários