Yesterday I heard an elderly lady talking about her life which prompted me to step back and consider mine. I haven’t done this in a long time – a big picture look. Here’s what I got, which seems to me something to consider whatever our age.
What is a life but a series of experiences, some perceived to be good, others not, but in truth they are all equally valid in showing us our next steps. What next? What now? We often can ask ourselves this. It’s not until we step back and look at the totality of where we’ve been that we can see the cycles of our lives and how one experience led to another then another. It can seem to be a natural progression like a wheel going round and round , or chaotic. We think of experiences as linear but they’re not really – some two steps forward, maybe a few more to the right or left and around in circles perhaps until we notice we have moved on, down the line, from the past to the future. This is what we can see as life, the big chunks, in years or “periods” as in- this was my “creative period” or my “turbulent” time. We may ask – where does the time go? Where has my life gone? It seems like just yesterday . . .
It seems to me the learning is – pay attention to each moment, live life, love life each moment – pay attention. And, when you look back – look at the moments – even if you can remember only a few -and savour the emotions, the joy, even the sorrow or grief that a moment had to offer. All precious in pointing the way to what’s next as we experience the great gift of a life on this beautiful planet.
So much to be grateful for. Live life- each moment. Love life – each moment. Such gifts each one.
Terry