Stop Majoring In The Minor

Do I really need this tiara?

Stop Majoring In The Minor

Leander Morris, my High School music teacher, would often tell his students that they were majoring in the minor. For years, I didn’t understand what he meant.

If we were arguing about integration and bussing, then we were “majoring in the minor.”  (By the way, I grew up in Wilmington, Delaware.  My schools were not integrated until the year after I graduated in 1979.)

If we were discussing whose church choir was the best, then we were “majoring in the minor.”

And if we dared to discuss things like, boys, sports, clothes or stuff we wanted, well then according to Mr. Morris, we were not even in the minor league.

As I have mentioned, Mr. Morris was a music teacher and one would think that a person whose life work had been defined as minor would be more careful about where he put his labels.

Many years after I graduated, I asked Mr. Morris what he meant about the whole major, minor business and he said this:

“Minors are things that enhance the majors, but the major is the thing.” I had already been to undergrad so I understood only slightly better, but I was still not completely sure of what he meant.

My face must have registered this because he went on to say that life was too short to spend worrying about things that didn’t matter in the big picture of life.

That day, I took his words to heart. I began to focus on bigger issues and concerns. I began to look for ways to make the world a better place and I found that when I did, my desires were also met.

A few days ago, when I heard myself tell my daughter the same minor- major thing, I laughed and then took the time to explain.

I told her that she should take an account of her thoughts for one hour. At then end of that hour, she should make an account of where her mind had wandered.

I’d like you to do the same. Do you overcare about things that are just not that important?

Do you think about an enemy you have created?

 Does your mind wander to things that have not happened, but you believe will?

 Do you think about how fat you just keep getting, or how small you were when you were in your 20’s?

Are you fixated on a love life with someone else’s spouse and how much greener the grass is on the other side?

Are you worried about who will be in the playoffs and what the next season of your favorite show will look like?

Take note of the thoughts you wake up with and the ones that take you to bed. Decide where your thoughts should be and your energy will follow.

There is an ancient Arabic proverb that says when a person seeks their purpose, the Universe conspires to answer.

Get out of the minors and into YOUR major.

Be you, be well, be lived.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

http://www.ayearto.com