Living The Life You Were Given

As I write this blog post, we are three days away from a new year.  As we wind down 2011 and look forward to what 2012 might bring, I find myself breathing a sigh of relief that I survived another hard year.  Life is hard, yes it is true.  But, life is hard for everyone.  I am learning to put challenges into a new perspective and realize that perhaps I should stop trying to control my life and just ‘let it happen’.

A good friend gave me a bit of advice the other day; she said “let go…. let God“.  Another wonder bit of advice came from the book Gabby, the story of Gabby Giffords and her struggle to regain strength and health after her terrible ordeal.  Her husband said it this way “courage is living the life you were given when it isn’t the life you had planned”.  Woo..  for me, that sums it up PERFECTLY.

Being a very strong Type A, I have always been sure that I could control my world, I just needed to ‘want to’ bad enough.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way.  My life’s motto.  I stayed headstrong and stubborn with making sure my life went according to plan.  It didn’t work. Whew, I’m exhausted.  As we all know, it’s really not possible to ‘control’ life.  Yes, it is necessary to arrange order and structure in life to make your days easier to manage, but really, that’s much different than ‘control’.

I have always been convinced that people come into our lives at precisely the moment we need them most.  It is our job to keep our hearts (and eyes) open and recognize these gifts.

I was headed to the airport on a business trip the other week and had made up my mind that morning that I would ‘be open’ to whatever was going to happen to me that day.  No tunnel vision.  Just open and paying attention to what was happening around me.

I was standing waiting for the train and this man came down the escalator screaming to someone on his cell phone.  He was cussing up a storm.  I looked at the elderly lady next to me and she said ” oh my, life is too short to be that angry“.  I nodded and agreed.  The train came and we both got on.  She came and stood very close to me with tears in her eyes.  She told me that her and her daughter had a falling out many months ago and that her daughter hadn’t spoken to her in months.  That morning, just before she left for the airport, the daughter called.  She apologized for the rife that had caused so much pain and told her mother she was sorry and that she loved her.

This stranger then touched my arm and said “we shouldn’t let anger take over our lives“.  Whow…. how did she know those were the exact words I needed to hear that day? I got tears in my eyes as the train came to a stop.  I hugged her and thanked her for her special gift.

That chance encounter has had an impact on my life. We are all dealing with our individual struggles, but have the ability to bring light to another person’s day.  Whose life have you touched today?

Happy New Year to you and those you love!

Posted in the following categories: General Wellness, Uncategorized