It’s
day 4 of the New Year and as far as I can tell, the gyms are still packed with
motivated people determined to lose weight and work out.
Me,
I’m taking a softer approach and starting by getting up and moving away from my
computer for 10 minutes every hour. I read several articles about how sitting
can kill you, so getting up and moving seems like a goal that’s very much in
keeping with my main one of not dying for a while.
Speaking
of death, and yes, I know – horrible segue, this New Year seems to be one fraught
with loss, both celebrity and personal.
Yesterday,
I was visiting a childhood friend who just lost her sister. And I was struck by
how open, and raw, and vulnerable we all are in these moments.
Death
has a funny way of slowing time down while simultaneously, showing us that life
continues no matter what.
As
news of another person’s passing reached me in the same 24 hour period, I
couldn’t help but wonder what loss had to teach me. I’m big on “what’s the
lesson in this.”
This
is what I came up with:
Every
tragedy or loss is an opportunity for greater compassion and love to emerge.
Every storm provides the chance for us to hold each other closer.
We
so frequently get caught up in the little things. We are focused on pounds gained
but not moments lost. We lose sight of the brief flicker our lives are until we
are stopped short, usually by calamity, and reminded that the only enduring
thing is the love felt in another’s heart for us. And vice versa.
So
in this New Year, it is my goal to seize meaningful moments, to dare speak up
and out, to love with greater abandon, with the awareness that, in the end,
that is all that truly endures or matters.
We
have a chance to make this world a reflection of our love instead of our differences
of opinion. I, for one, could benefit from “liking” fewer Facebook posts and
loving more actual people.
We
are at a critical moment. Our survival or destruction rides on our choices, and
make no mistake, not making a choice is making a choice. Apathy, indifference,
and inertia reap results just as well as action does.
So
if we’re going to be resolute in our resolutions, I resolve to be more generous
with my heart and constructive with my mind. That seems like a worthy endeavor.
I
would like to look back at the end of 2019 and see a world somehow made better
because I dared to give a damn and put myself out there and trust that I was
enough to help in some way. I would like to know someone benefited not just
from my efforts, but from my courage.
It
takes unfathomable courage to live from love in a world led by fear.
Fear
says you are different from me, separate from me, a threat to me. Love says we
are the same, inseparable, and key to one another’s survival.
Yeah,
I need to move more and eat less. Who doesn’t? But that’s just a small part of
what I want to accomplish this year.
Thank you so much for stopping by. Please tell your friends.
