"April showers bring May flowers," or so we're told. What do we learn from that? Well maybe, as I mentioned in a prior email and in the words of Dolly Parton "you gotta put up with the rain if you wanna enjoy the rainbow." Looked at another way, I had a Zoom yesterday with a Bandster/Sleevester who was sneezing and coughing and through their watery eyes looked at me and said, "I'll accept my allergies as long as I know the snow is gone and the Spring is coming." Wise beyond their years I'd say.
Just the other day, I bumped into an old friend - literally and figuratively - as I have known them most of my life and they just celebrated their 82nd birthday. They were excited to tell me that they had just bought a brand new car, a fully electric one, and with all the bells and whistles. They said it was because they are a committed environmentalist and wanted to do their part and also to lead by example. No doubt true and I am sure $4.00 a gallon gas was a factor too.
That said, I couldn't help but be struck by the unspoken message - "I am alive and well and I intend to keep on being so. I am optimistic about my future and I am acting and living accordingly." While my friend certainly possesses a "fabulous collection of years" and intends to keep on collecting them - I am quite sure that they also understand that "it is not the years in your life that matter quite so much as the life in your years."
There's a terrific scene in Shawshank Redemption - one of my favorite movies - where Andy says to Red "it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLpyklFEahs
The flowers are busy living, Dolly and the Bandster/Sleevester are too. And I am very very sure my birthday buddy with the brand new car is as well. Are you?
In my coaching class, they really emphasize the idea that choice is our greatest freedom and that our exercise of it determines our happiness and our success. It would be naive to think that in our lives there aren't challenges, problems, struggles, and even tragedies that confront us all. And while we acknowledge that, might we also see - that viewed through a certain lens - these all represent opportunity?
What we do with our opportunities is our choice. As scripture teaches "we do not see things as they are but rather we see them as we are." Are we seeing all we can and seeing it clearly? Are we doing all we can and doing it by choice? One of my favorite Isareli folk rock songs - YoYa by Kaveret - blares "mishaneh makom - mishaneh mazal!" Change your place. Change your luck! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5xUiayK-Pc
Wise Winnie the Pooh said "I get where I am going by leaving where I am behind."
Are you where you want to be and doing what you want to be? I hope so.
And if not, why not?
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