Loving Life

February is the month of love. Often I associate that love with romance, but this month, this year, I'm broadening my February view to a love of life. Mid-last month, a message on a daily calendar I had received as a gift, read: "Do more than exist...live, do more than touch...feel, do more than look...observe, do more than read...absorb, do more than hear...listen...." We are each given only so many days in our lives. How can I take my precious allotment of days and embrace all of the good that can come from them? How do I contribute to that goodness for myself and others? It's so easy in our day-to-day lives to simply exist, rather than to live; to be so preoccupied as to only touch, not feel; to be so impatient as to only look, rather than to observe; to be so distracted by the many simultaneously bombarding messages that enter our lives these days that we only read, not absorb; and to be so sure of our opinions that we only hear, instead of listen. This February, I will dedicate time each day to slowing down, being intentional and focused, reflecting on the blessings in my life and paying those blessings forward by showing kindness as much as possible to others (even in the smallest of ways). It's a gift to have this life. In appreciation, I will love every minute of it.

End of Your Comfort Zone

It seems that every magazine or book I pick up these days has an article or passage about change, trying something new, embracing your passions, getting out of a rut, reinventing yourself, all in the pursuit of happiness and a sense of purpose.  It might be my age, but I've been devoting a lot of thinking to such things lately. Perhaps my seeing so many references to these topics isn't just happenstance.  I believe that we have some kind of ability to attract what we are seeking.  And I must be seeking answers to questions I carry at a deeper level. I read a magazine article about a man who decided that he had reached the stage in his life where it was important to give back, so he had reinvented himself to do just that, leaving his comfort zone behind, taking a risk that would give him renewed vigor, satisfaction and rewards of the everlasting, but not tangible, kinds.  I don't find it easy to leave my comfort zone too often, so I have great respect for those who don't just dip a toe into uncharted waters, but seriously take the plunge.  It makes me wonder just what kind of a plunge that would be for me.