Wednesday Reflections

[Michele 1]

I've been thinking a lot lately about something. If there is a God (and I think there is...) what do you think He'd ask you at the pearly gates? What criteria would be used to assess your character?

~Did you take enough chances in love? Did you risk your heart enough?

I think the heart is the only thing we ever have to give which has lasting value, and which can be regrown. And I think that a few heartbreaks along the way only add to the depth and power of our love for others, if we but risk it one more time...put it out there once again.

~Did you smile enough? Or did you store them away, like the best china, to only be used at precious few times?

Smiling at someone is the fastest way to show someone, known or not, that you care. One of my best memories is someone saying to me, as I walked past him with a dour look..."Hey, lady, you dropped something" When I wheeled around to find what I'd lost, and there was nothing there, he added "You dropped your smile"....and then he just walked away. I stood there, thinking about that. And learned to try hard to smile at people, even if I'm not in the mood to do so.

~Did you cry enough? Did you lose enough?

For in the losing, I think, we learn what we had. And in the next go-round, we find a deeper appreciation of whatever it is. Some things are lost forever, but the impact they leave in the losing stretches us for the next thing. Tears water our lifegarden, I think, and without tears, it is a sparse garden indeed.

~Did you respect yourself enough to make hard choices? Did you trust yourself enough to survive the choices made?

In choosing one thing over another, was it the right choice? Our lives, I think, are a direct result of our choices. Are we learning from them, and building on them? Were the results of previous choices made enough to lay a foundation for other choices? And were these choices honestly made?

~Did you sing and dance? Did you enjoy the sunsets, the dawns, the rain, the world?

As we move through our day, how many times do we really see those around us? Do we just look through them, or do we see them as they are - fellow humans who share this planet, and are capable of everything we are? And do you see the sunsets? Do you dance in the rain? Do you sing at the top of your voice, for the sheer joy of singing?

~Did you give to others first?

Kahlil Gibran says it like this: Generosity is not giving to me when I need it most, but giving to me when you need it more than I do. Did you give to people, even though it hurts? Did you share your time with a charity? Your family? Your friends? Did you contribute to them more than they contribute to you?

~Did you see what the world is? Or did you only see what your world is?

Did you stop to think about how incredible this planet really is, how huge and glorious and big and varied? Did you listen to the music in the world, the sounds of the wind, the songs of the crickets, the feel of the dirt under your feet?

~ Did you say thank you enough?

To others? To your enemies, for in conflict there is always a lesson to be learned...to your friends, for they will not always be around you? To your family, for they love you in a manner unspeakably deep? And to yourself? Do you ever thank yourself, acknowlege yourself?

~Did you judge too harshly?

Did you judge too harshly those around you? Did you forgive them when they erred? Did you learn more about yourself through your judgments?

~Did you live your life from a position of fear or from love? And did you take actions based more in love than in fear?

When you uncover the bottom emotion, there are only two, I've learned. Fear and love. Which one do you spend more time with? Which one do you act out on more? Which one is the primary base reality for you? I have made decisions from both positions. The ones which were right came from love. The ones which were sturdy, withstanding time and transient circumstances came from a position of love. Those made from fear were shortlived, frail and temporary...collapsing like a house of straws in the first mild breeze. And when I re-chose, from a different position, only then they were strong...

Just some reflections on Wednesday, two weeks from Christmas. Celebrate yourself, and celebrate your life.

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[ladyskydiver 0]

Thanks, Michele.

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

[airborne31582 0]

Thanks Michele.

Chris
I thought of the odds of me succeeding, versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid, and I went ahead anyway.

[dropdeded 0]

You have an awesome outlook on life Michele.

Thanks for sharing it.Im sure this will make a few of us think about whats real in life,I know it did me.

dropdeded

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The Dude Abides.
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