The Passing of a Friend

Yesterday I attended the memorial of a truly good woman who was a very close friend of our family.  She was so close that I considered her my aunt.  Although I really feel that no one dies before their time, this is a woman that I wish could have stuck around a lot longer.  I learned by all the people who stood and spoke about her and their experience with her that she impacted them in great ways.  She loved, taught, inspired, and sacrificed for so many and it was a beautiful thing to witness the testimonies of friends, family, and colleagues.  One of the great things about my aunt was that no matter what she may have been going through personally, she never let it hold her back from her goals or from helping others.  Her attitude was a perfect example of how we should all be.  She was always positive and was a woman of great faith...such a great role model.  Saying goodbye to her was yet another reminder that we do not know when our time is up.  The constant messages of the service were to slow down, put aside differences, appreciate and communicate as much as you can with loved ones.  Life is short so make every moment count. 

"Our lifetime is a flash of lightning in the sky, like a dance, like a torrent rushing by a steep mountain - impermanent.  Make it precious" - Deepak Chopra

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Intuition

Image
The definition of intuition is the act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; a perceptive insight. I refer to it as gut feelings or instinctive behavior.  An intuition can be a good or bad feeling or even an instantaneous response to something without knowing why. I dare to say that whenever I have acted (or not) on gut instinct I have rarely ever been steered wrong. So what's that all about and why don't we follow this more often? Well, for one thing, it isn't always seen as a rational act. It doesn't always make sense. But what I'm finding more and more as I get older and listen more to my innards, I trust that I have an innate ability to read situations and people with great accuracy. There have been times that I have been very compelled to do something for a reason that I couldn’t quite define that turned out to be a very smart move.  Honing in on this ability means being very in touch with yourself. Unfortunately there ...
Read more

Thoughts Over Coffee

Image
It's a brisk 37 degrees out and I'm sitting here in Starbucks thinking about a sad dream that I had last night.  I was at a big Christmas party and everybody was smiling, laughing, and having a great time giving gifts to each other.  Everything was fine until people started handing some gifts to me.  I then felt very sad that I did not have something to give in return. In fact I balled like a baby. Upon waking, I spoke with a dear friend of mine who said the sweetest of words.  He said, "maybe it's because you give of yourself the other 364 days of the year that you should not feel sad about accepting those gifts without having something to give in return".  That's an interesting way of looking at it.  I do give of myself in various ways throughout the year but I never really think of it as "giving gifts".  I'm definitely not the type that keeps a tally on what I do for others.  In fact I abhor those who do.  I give what I can a...
Read more

Reality

Image
Skyrocketing prices in goods and services, joblessness, political battles, wars, natural disasters.  Day by day we all go head-to-head with our own personal challenges big and small. These are trying times. But observing how the Japanese people have reacted in the aftermath of the recent earthquake and tsunami really made me sit up and take notice.  There has been little if any looting and no rioting.  People wait in orderly lines outside stores and gas stations. They see the workers at the Fukushima nuclear plant who are trying to keep the plant from melting down as doing their job not as heroes like we might because they are risking their lives.  I did a little research and found out that the difference between American and Japanese culture is that Japanese culture encourages cooperation and discourages self-interest. It is deeply ingrained in them from birth.  Americans value self-determination, individuality, independence, and a strong sens...
Read more