REMEMBERING

Oops, they did it again.
This person once again
did not live up to my expectations.
Once again I found myself frustrated
and not wanting to have anything
to do with them.
Then I remembered this is about me
and my expectations.
They never agreed to them,
I just expected them to do so.

Perhaps more importantly
I was allowing this one thing,
this one experience to make me
forget all the good they had done.
I had to work at remembering
the good things,
the times they were present,
the moments they were affirming, and
the moments they lived up to my expectations.

I am sure there are moments,
intentionally or not,
that I have not lived up to someone’s expectations.,
or that I have hurt their feelings,
and made someone forget
all the times I was loving,
nurturing,
and kind.
May we remember the goodness
in the wake of the pain.
May we remember for others
as we would like others to remember
about us.

NO PROMISES

It’s been a rough few weeks.
It’s been filled with losses,
accidents, illnesses,
and other challenges.
I have so many friends who are going through
feeling weighed down with
grief, fear, concerns, and
the challenges of life.

Together we are going through
remembering that life
makes no promises.
There is no promise that
life will be easy
or simple.
We may wish there was, but
there are no promises.

So we lift each other up,
knowing we will make it through  
and remind each other
we have this.
We remind each other
to focus on the positive.
We focus on what we have
to be grateful for.
We help each other through
the good times and the bad
and we remind ourselves that
life makes no promises

SONG OF THE WEEK

To be yourself is all you can do. Be you, not what others expect you to be. That is the message of this week's song of the week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=76&v=WC5FdFlUcl0

LET IT GO

Let it go.
That is what I hear
Words from a teacher
The reminder to release
To stop accelerating the negativity
To interrupt the flow of energy
To just let it go

Step on the brake
Let it go
Just sit in the joy
So I sit in it and
I keep releasing that
Which attempts to steal my joy

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BECOMING THE TREE

Dear God,

I know you never put more on us then we can bear, but this year has been filled with challenges. If I had to pick a word for that I have learned this year, it would be tenacity. I have learned to have the determination to rise about difficult circumstances. It does not mean it has been easy, but I am making myself rise. I am finding the strength within myself to keep on going.

There have been days when I felt so deeply and did see my own strength, but I would remember to release the fears that were obscuring my vision. You found your way of reminding me to be like the Tree of Heaven, the tree Betty Smith wrote about in her novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. She wrote, “Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first time or last time. Then your time on Earth will be filled with joy.”

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LIVING, FORGIVING AND THE FOUR AGREEMENTS

All this month, I have been thinking about forgiveness. Each week, I have learned something new about myself, something I need to let go of within myself and forgive myself for thinking, feeling, or internalizing. Planning Zoe’s 60th surprise birthday party has brought up a few things I needed to forgive. This week, I have had to learn to release expectations about people and events. I had to learn to let this weekend celebration of Zoe’s life be what it was supposed to be. I had to release my expectations that people would communicate with me when there was a change in plans, as I would have with them. I had to release my desire to have the whole family together at one time. As with relationships, once I learned to release expectations around how things were going to be, it was just fine. However, for that hour or so that I was working on releasing my dreams and fantasies, I have had to forgive myself for self-imposed suffering.

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A MUSICAL TRILOGY

Back in March of this year, so not so long ago, I remember reflecting on an old Beatle song, Let It Be. Yesterday, I was reminded of the importance of those words one more time. I remembered that it is what it is, nothing more or nothing less. In this month, when we are focusing on forgiveness of self and others, I found myself having to practice what I teach. I learned that someone I trusted had failed to tell me they could no longer uphold their part of an agreement. I have to admit, my first reaction was “seriously, you are just now telling me this and you have known for months.” Then the emotional work on my side began as I realized that I was sitting in judgment of this person and the situation and the Beatle song began coming back to me, just let it be.

My conversation with this person had caused me to lose balance temporarily. That did not make either of us right or wrong, it was the Ultimate Creator’s way of helping me in my own journey and maintaining awareness of what the Ultimate Creator was doing for me in that moment. So I had to let it be!

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