Category: Musings

Ringing in 2012

LuAnn

“What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.” ~ Buddha

Many of us are sitting back right about now reflecting on our lives, perhaps having some regrets, or maybe even wondering what the heck we should be doing with the rest of our lives.  What is our purpose?

I have always admired people who seemed to know, from a very early age, what they wanted out of life, who they wanted to be when they grew up.  I was not one of the rare few who had these laser-focused goals.  As I have grown older and encountered more people along life’s journey, I believe that many (maybe most) of us have had more “fluid” lives, changing course along the way.  Job changes, loss of a significant person in our lives, health issues, financial struggles, etc. create hardships that tend to derail the best of us.  Perhaps more tragic yet is not being true to who we are, out of fear of failure or fear of ridicule.

My hope for all of us as we ring in 2012 is that we are true to ourselves, for that is where the courage lies.  Let’s find out what it is that makes us come alive and go out and do it.  Let’s paint our landscape, creating the life that will fulfill us!

Happy New Year Everyone!

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”  ~  Steve Jobs

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A Holiday Message

LuAnn

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?  It came without ribbons.  It came without tags.  It came without packages, boxes or bags.  And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore.  Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.  ~Dr Seuss


Well, it is that time of year again when the commercialism of the season besieges our senses.  My prayer for all of you is that you can take a little quiet time for yourselves and reflect upon your blessings.  It is so much easier it seems to look at what is wrong with our lives instead of everything we have to be grateful for.  So many of us are struggling with work, family, health, etc., etc., etc.

Loss is something that has weighed on me this year, as I lost my most precious friend Barbara, my anam cara (soul friend).  Although I feel the pain of her absence daily, I am determined to celebrate and give gratitude for the time I had with her and the profound impact she made on my life.  I feel blessed to have had a friend in my life whose energy, when I was near her, filled me up.  May we all have someone in our lives who blankets up with their love and may we do the same for others.

I came across this quote some time ago, and it seems fitting for all of us to reflect upon as we head into 2012:

Faith makes all things possible; hope makes all things work; love makes all things beautiful!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Barb’s Amazing Nutcracker Collection 

What I Am Reading Now

LuAnn

I just finished reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  I believe it has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 88 weeks and is an exceptional read.  I highly recommend it!

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What is a Life?

LuAnn

Live for something.  Do good, and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storm of time can never destroy. Write your name in kindness, love, and mercy, on the hearts of thousands you come in contact with year by year; you will never be forgotten. No, your name, your deeds, will be as legible on the hearts you leave behind as the stars on the brow of evening. Good deeds will shine as the stars of heaven.  ~Chalmers~

We have been staying close to home these past few weeks, so no new pictures of another beautiful colonial city, just some of my reflections today.

What gives a life meaning?  Truly it is different for everyone.  Who are we to judge what constitutes a good life for anyone?  Many of us have fallen victim to determining the quality of one’s life based on our own experiences and opinions of what we would do under the same set of circumstances.  I know that I have been guilty of this at times.

What does it take to find happiness in one’s life?  This certainly differs widely from one individual to the next.  As we slowly marched towards retirement (me more slowly than Terry), our visions of what happiness looked like for us changed, little by little.  We wanted the experiences of other places and cultures, whereas others want the stability and security of a home, feeling more anchored in one spot.  Since we are all unique individuals, our sense of what will bring us joy differs.  Again, we often fall prey to the mindset that if someone does not have our same likes and dislikes, there must be something wrong with them.

One observation Terry and I have made, both in Costa Rica and here in Mexico, is that many locals we see and speak to are truly happy, even with so very little in a material or monetary sense.  Values certainly appear to be different in developing and third world countries.

While growing up I often had the thought that I wanted to do something important in my life, something big.  That would give my life meaning!  I have come to realize that being of service to others in small ways brings me great joy and that just may be my calling in this life.  I believe that we all have our own path to walk.

Those whose journey is one to experience a chronic illness may have the most meaningful lives of all, particularly in the width and the depth of the valuable lessons that they teach others.  My beloved friend Barbara (the one I call my anam cara) is very ill and, even through all her suffering, she teaches me lessons, through our conversations, her courage, her concern for others, both people and animals, her beautiful artwork, and how in tune she is with nature.  I pray that I could have that same grace if faced with those struggles.

When I look around me, to those who have so little, to those in physical and emotional pain, given the state of the world currently, my hope and prayer for all of us is that we can find the meaning in our present experiences and capture some joy that we can hold in our hearts.

Peace and Joy

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The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.  ~Thomas Merton~