life is precious | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “life is precious”

12 Apr 2012

No Day But Today

There are times when I ask myself “How did I get here?” I don’t mean I have been unconscious and I woke up out of a daze or something. I know I have been moving along day to day, living the life I have lived and counting the days on the calendar.

But when I stop to think about it I realize that there were many, many days that I had wished would come to an end as quickly as it could… You know, those days when it all comes down on you and you think it can’t get worse? At the end, you sigh the sigh of relief, hopefully lying in bed and wondering if you close your eyes will it go away (there are some I remember did not finish in my bed, but were in some very odd places I shudder to remember).

Still when the day is finished, look for the next day to improve. Of course there are always those days that start out looking like they are going to be “one of those days”. You know them…Issues at work, family conflicts, tests of patience or memory or physical stamina. Even in my younger days I knew that they would be around from time to time. But I hoped that they would be far between, and would be interspersed with some really brilliant and wonderful days. And of course they would be.

They stand out in life, those days that are the “best days of your life”. Things that happen in it seem to feel like miracles. Birth of children or like reaching a milestone: finishing school or achieving and being recognized for the challenge. These can be those times when you reflect back on your “firsts” and realize that it there will only be seconds and thereafter and capture those precious days forever in your memories. You find that you relive them again with your friends and family in remembrance. Many times you may not even have a physical picture of it, but the pictures remain clear in your head.

But between the days of “need to be over” and “wish it would never end” are mainly the abundance of days we live. And even then, they may be focused on the coming weekend or looking forward to special events or anniversaries with special people.

My advice to my children. Don’t wish them over, don’t take the day for granted or keep hoping for a better day some other day. Cherish the day you have. Thank God for it. Stop and take it in. Put the ingredients in it to make it be a day you can appreciate. Apply kindness, patience, grace, compassion, love. You won’t get another day that is identical; each day will be unique an non-repeatable. And you don’t have any guarantees that the next day will come with you in it at all. So please don’t wish them away.

19 Mar 2012

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Organization in the Clutter of Life

It seems sometimes it is so important to get organized in your life, than other times it seems that the freedom to let it all go makes perfect sense.

Those times when everything needs to be in order. You know, you look around and everything seems cluttered, out-of-place, displaced from the space it belongs in. The clutter can lead to confusion, to that feeling of being off-balance. Nothing is where it needs to be, and you can’t imagine how it got that way. Maybe just a victim of every-day living, running its paces and little by little things just go out-of-order. Other times it can just seem like one day it is all good and the next nothing seems in place.

All good are those opposite days, when you seem to be flowing back and forth though the daily machine of living…so at ease. Nothing bothers you , nothing goes according to plan, but you don’t care. The constant changes feel good, like surprises you can cherish one at a time. The changes seem to nearly confirm the confidence in those unorganized days being temporary. Bring the changes on!

But those days where it is cluttered, every noise seems to rub you the wrong way, like the high-pitched squeal of fingers on a chalkboard (do they have those anymore?). Nothing any one says seems to sit well with you, and you find fault in even the littlest of things. You become annoyed at nearly everything.

That’s when you need to reach deep, and take a deep breath. Reach deep into yourself and meditate on the important things in your life, in your love of the higher being, your center that brings you to your awareness. The awareness of everyone around you, and you in the world surrounded by everything else.

You find yourself re-arranging the clutter, putting things back in their place. You find new places for some of the things in your life, you throw out others. You move-on with the people and ideas that aren’t working the way you thought. You re-engage with the lovers and friends that you know will be there, whether you are all-together organized, or just totally bouncing from place to place like a rubber ball.

So today realize that not every day can be exactly as you plan, not every thing in your space can be exactly where it belongs. Some days when you struggle to organize things, it just isn’t the right day, other days it comes so easily that you have to sit down at the end of the day and be thankful. But either way, take a breath and appreciate the essential things that make you who you are, since you are the only “you” you have. Love yourself for what you are and what you can be.

Posted in Before and After Things Change and tagged choices, clutter, control, life is precious, Organization

22 Feb 2012

Fade Away

There are fade away jumpers,fade out songs,faded jeans,faded hopes or dreams. Some times it feels right to fade into the background. Songs about fading away (Buddy Holly) or rock and rollers who just fade away (Neil Young).
So when someone leaves this Earth so abruptly it seems to go against the “fade”. Lately there have been some young people in my life and our friends lives who have died so young and so unexpectedly that it comes as a shock to the mortal idea that we will all get a chance to fade out slowly, and experience lifes ups and downs.
But then God knows our time, we do not. Sometimes we are given a view of the road ahead [more on that another time] but we need to remember that life is precious. We hope it is a long and winding road, that we can make some significant impression on the world – tracks that make a difference.
In the end, whether we fade away or go quickly like a light bulb going dark we need to embrace what we can do in life while we are able. And for each of us that is something uniquely ours, since it is our life.