For most of my life, worried about not being good at it or that people would think I'm goofy, I insisted that I didn't dance. Yet, at a wedding this weekend, I danced so much that I’m still hobbling around like an octogenarian - and smiling at how fun it is to "dance like nobody's watching."
When life is churned up, the chaotic details of all that has to get done can feel overwhelming. It may sound counterintuitive, but instead of focusing harder on all that's happening, you might try focusing softer. Seeing the whole picture can steady us even in times of great upheaval.
Going through a parent's things after they die can feel like a very dusty wild goose chase. Finding a surprisingly enlightened letter that my grandmother wrote to my mom 62 years ago touched a place in my aching heart in a wonderfully healing way.
For 22 days I was thrilled to watch new life unfold in a bird's nest. As I happily looked on in wonder, I noticed myself simultaneously casting a shadow over my own joy by worrying about when the babies would leave. When we cling to happy things, we take away some the happiness they give us.
Is all of the loss and grief that you've experienced worth whatever growth it causes? Heck no. Is it worthwhile? Heck yes. Loss leaves you quite clear that love is all that matters. When we lead with love we not only find more love, but we find a deep gratitude for the life we're living with all its ups and downs.
When someone you love has dementia, you quickly learn that even the best of plans will often need to be changed. You start to balance your effort with a sense of ease about how things might play out.
How many times have you felt beat over the head by an author or refrigerator magnet or singer because you’re “worrying your life away” or need to remember that “there is no time like the present” or that if you had “no worries” you’d “be happy?” Here's another take on the advice "Don't worry. Be happy."
Have you ever stumbled across something you thought you already knew and realize that you now know it in a whole new way? Sometimes you just can't "get it" until you've lived it. Life, it turns out, is the best teacher we'll ever have.
Change can be scary. But it's even scarier to live a life that no longer fits who you are. It's a strange thing that the truth of who you are might be obscured by the very things that seem to make you YOU. Like every living thing on earth, you and I need to allow ourselves the space and the freedom to change - even (or especially) in ways that are surprising and a little scary.