Opening to the Unexpected
I just returned from a 12 day trip to my old stomping grounds in New England. Along with many bittersweet moments came moments of clarity and even a few epiphanies. I had returned to visit a childhood pal who is undergoing treatment for cancer, and another friend who is having some issues with her grown children. I also spent time with my dear High School Friends and my family who still live in the area. I went with much anxiety and came home with much gratitude. The experience enriched and humbled me.
Part of the growing I did had to do with learning that we all need to lift up others who are undergoing hardships. We cannot change their circumstances, nor interfere with their progress on the earth plane, but we can demonstrate love and compassion for them and their circumstances. This is vital. The truth is we need to spend time with those who may not vibrate at the same frequency as we do in order to learn from them, and for them to know how special they are.
My friend's 91 year old mother was at one of the events on my trip and she looked and acted so youthful! Her ability to flow with the others was a magnificent gift, and I told her just how special and youthful she presented herself. My feeling was that she was not certain she was valuable, and I told her differently! She was an inspiration to me throughout the entire visit.
We may learn and grow at a different rate of energy than another, but we constantly vibrate at energetic levels of which we may be unaware. Sitting with one of my former students, I marveled at the changes in him in 3 short years. His maturity and his poise made his physical presence vibrant and effusive! We discussed his plans for his immediate future, all the while acknowledging his effect on others with whom he interacted.
My students always offer me so much in the way of new learning. Today while picking up papers at the local Community college a student of mine from India explained the way his social and familial differences have not only impacted his life, but have made him the man he is becoming. His belief in doing things in the traditional way would amaze an American teenager of the same age. For him, it is just a way of life.
When we open up to life, we find the most precious gifts in the unexpected events that we are given. A sunset on a warm summer's day, a bouquet of flowers cut from a students garden to thank me, a smile on the face of an old friend, the gift of an ice cream sundae for another. Having gone away and then returning is bittersweet. I leave to reconnect and I return home to reflect. There is beauty in the quiet moments walking along the beach with my dear friend, smiling and laughing at memories shared, and sitting in the sun on the back deck and soaking up the ambiance of the chipmunks and birds running and swooping into the scene.
No matter how long we live, we matter. We matter to those who love us, to whom we love. We should matter to ourselves. We must remember when we gift ourselves to others, we share in the joy of the gifting. There is nothing more beautiful than showing love to those to whom you share your life path. The moment becomes all there is, here and now and in reflection later....it becomes the tenderest memory of a life well lived.
