I haven’t
mentioned this yet on my blog, as my positive side has been trying to block it
out until I am strong enough to face it. My best friend’s Mom died suddenly of
a massive brain aneurysm. She was only 53 years old. Shanna and I have been
friends since grade 1 so I was very close with her Mom. She had a smile that
lit up the room and when you looked in her eyes you knew how much she genuinely
cared about you. Just last week I saw Shanna and her Mom and we were planning
to go to breakfast together – the three of us - later this week. Sadly we never
got the chance.
I will
always be grateful for having the opportunity to have known Lila - how loved I
felt when she hugged me, how much she cared about the needs of others
before her own. She was such a caregiver and put her heart into everything. I
loved Lila. I would do anything to bring her back, she had so much life left to
live. She sure touched the hearts of many.
Through
adversity it is very difficult to be grateful, but like the speaker said in the
video from yesterday (The 3 A’s of Awesome) – between high highs we will all
have lumps and bumps – you too will be tossed into the well. You will have twists
in your stomach and holes in your heart. And when that bad news washes over you
and that pain sponges and soaks in, you always have two choices:
1) you
can swirl and twirl and gloom and doom forever, or
2) you
can grieve and then face the future with newly sober eyes
Having
a great attitude means that no matter how difficult it is or what pain hits you,
choosing to move forward and take baby steps into the future.
This
quote was of comfort to me when I lost a friend to a fire before Christmas, and
after rereading it, it offers comfort tonight as well:
“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living
alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You
have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are
here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens
that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let
yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you
in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you
could.” - Louise Erdrich
Ending tonight’s gratitude journal entry with a very inspirational
video about a young man that is grateful for everything he has. His attitude is
so contagious - he is spreading his love of life to everyone he meets.
He cheered up my spirit. Gratitude is such a
virtue. It warms my heart.
All my condolences....and you're right, too many people linger on things they can't control, and that ends up defining them.
ReplyDeleteYou can only use events like these as bricks that help build the person that you are.
Thanks so much Richard, that means a lot to me. Yes I agree, and I need to live up to the promise that I made to myself when I started this little gratitude blog: "to wake up every day with a smile on my face and a happy heart regardless of what is in store for me that day."
ReplyDeleteTomorrow is a new day, a new beginning. Thanks for your kindness.