Inspiration

The essence of life is that it’s challenging. Sometimes it is sweet, and sometimes it is bitter. Sometimes your body tenses, and sometimes it relaxes or opens. Sometimes you have a headache, and sometimes you feel 100% healthy. From an awakened perspective, trying to tie up all the loose ends and finally get it together is death, because it involves rejecting a lot of your basic experience.
-Pema Chodron

My colleague (who I also consider my life coach) read me that quote a couple weeks ago. It hit me hard because it’s so true. I’m constantly beating myself up because I have piles of laundry that needed to be folded two weeks ago, or because I have stacks of bills and papers that need to be filed. I also have guilt about not always keeping up with friendships like I should. Or why I ate like crap yesterday and didn’t go for a walk because I had too much work to do. I could go on forever. What I’m trying to say is that I have guilt for always dropping the ball in some aspect in my life. I can’t live like this! Things will never be perfect, and that’s life, right? I printed a couple copies of this quote and have them hanging in my work area and in my kitchen. I need a constant reminder that imperfection is life. Or that life is imperfection.

I DVR the Oprah show every day. I simply love her show. I think most of the time she presents real and important issues that matter. While I don’t have time to watch many of the shows, I try to watch the most inspirational shows. I watched a couple shows during the last week that really moved and inspired me again to live life to the fullest. And to appreciate every second I have with my kids.

Oprah interviewed Michael J. Fox, and he said something that I’ll never forget. He said that “every moment is special and important”. He was talking about how no matter what he’s doing, if his kids want to show or tell him something, he’ll stop what he’s doing to see what they want to show him. He said whatever they want to share is more important than what he’s doing. As parents, how often do we tell our kids “later, not now, I’m busy”? I’ll be the first to admit I’m guilty. You never get time back. You can never go back and talk to your 7 year old daughter who wants to tell you about how well she printed her name. It’s no secret that kids grow up in the blink of an eye. It’s no secret that we don’t live forever. It’s no secret that we will die some day. He’s an incredible man, and reminded me how important it is to grab onto every moment in life. I read his first book years ago, and I definitely think I’m going to buy his new book.

I also watched a show about incredible fathers, and I cried like a baby when she got to the story about the soldier who kept a journal for his unborn son. His wife purchased a journal that was specifically for fathers to write in for their children. During her pregnancy, he was deployed to Iraq and took the journal. He began writing in the journal faithfully. We wrote about life, God, and growing up. Real issues that any father would discuss with his son. He was a beautiful writer!

Shortly after the birth of their son, the husband came home for a small amount of time (I think 6 weeks). Then he was sent back to Iraq, where he was killed by a road-side bomb. Sad, sad, sad. I also felt very angry listening to this story, but I won’t get into that! While the father had very little time with his son, his words live forever in his journal. His wife published a book based on his journal – I’d like to check that out as well. I haven't been keeping up with my kids' journals lately, and need to get back to writing in them.

Again, this story has reminded me how precious life is, and how I need to focus on the big stuff, and not sweat the small stuff. Family and love is what it’s all about. The rest is just a sack of small potatoes. Or ba-day-das, as my Aunt Rita would call them.