The sun was shining here all day yesterday.
I drove out of town with my son and marvelled at the blue skies.
We enjoyed some impromptu time together as he gets ready for a holiday, and I breath more easily as I see how well he has come through this summer's challenges. All the fear that everything, him included, could be taken away from me, has brought me to Autumn 2012 with a deep sense of thankfulness.
Of course, we do not need these challenges, to know that we humans are fragile creatures. Everything or something, can be taken away from us at any moment. At some point, sooner or later, we will say goodbye to everything we have.
"Everything we have?" This in itself is an illusion. We do not have everything. We have nothing. We have everything and nothing all at the same time.
Living our life can be heavy with "having"; with losing and with fear.
Or we can live our life with a light touch, a visiting, a sharing, a loving and a letting go; with joy and laughter.
As I welcome autumn, my favourite season, I am thankful for all that I share and have experienced. I am grateful for kind and thoughtful blogging friends, and for loving and caring family and friends in the "real" world.
I am grateful for this article on avoiding compassion fatigue by Operation Safe. Often I worry that I write too much about my own challenges on my blog, and that this is too negative and self-pitying. Lately and uncharacteristically I feel less sorrow and anger about injustices that once would have moved me to tears. I worry that I have become too wrapped up in my own problems. This article really helps me to remember my core values and beliefs, my dreams and aspirations.
While it seems that life will be changing and there will be more limits than I would like, this might bring a more creative way of being, and very welcome change. I am grateful for change and for reminders of our limits. Thank you to "brainpickings" for leading me to this video which talks about creativity being a way of operating rather than a talent; and also about the importance of humour and play.
I am very grateful for the Internet and the abundance of inspiration and human courage it opens to us. I am also so thankful for writers and thinkers who remind us of the wonder and miracle of life
I forgot that I have nothing, it's true though. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteA great post Jan! It reminds me of the saying "hang loosely to life". I've also heard it as "love deeply, hang loosely to life" or something like that. We are sojourners here and as you mention, at some point sooner or later, we will say goodbye to everything. The key is to live and love and laugh and share another's burden's to help them along the way. I'm grateful for your links on avoiding compassion fatigue and about creativity. I'll be sure to check them out. xx
ReplyDeleteLooking at the note of John Cleese's lecture on creativity, it struck me that that is also a good approach for me to accomplishing goals in general. I'm learning to be less of a perfectionist, create space and time for me to do things I want to do or learn to do, and then doing it. It's working great :-)
ReplyDeleteMost of whatg I've surrounded myself with over the years is just illusion. This was a good reminder.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your post today... it made me think of one of my favorite songs... Dust in the Wind... so true... I love the fact that spontaneity always brings the best of moments no matter how short they were....lovely that you enjoyed your son.... Hugs xxxx
ReplyDeleteI thought I had posted here but I see I didn't...lovely and elegant and thought provoking as always!! I'm sorry I've been slack on commenting for the last forevah but hoping to get back on track.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the work "enoughness". Brilliant. I hope your week is off to a good start xxx
So true, so true. I have heard that same thing, that all we have is on loan. It is such a hard concept for me to understand. I am learning but it is going to take some time.
ReplyDelete