The Gift

This is yours not because of anything you have done or made

It is yours because of what you have lost and let go of; ego, self servitude, fear, compulsiveness

Let your past die with all its broken dreams
Take a walk because you can
Someday your legs won’t let you
Watch a bug
Watch clouds pass
Breathe in and exhale
Stay in the moment lest you drag everyone into a past that doesn’t need to own you
That might not even be real
Leading you to see things certain ways
Ways you don’t need to see anymore
Let it go
Let the people in your life have their journeys, and have yours.
We will indeed forget more than we remember, but truly happy moments will linger with us
The greatest regret of those who reach old age is that they were not kinder, and more present in the moment
So when you lay close to the one who loves you now, do not speak of those who did not love you before.
Sacrifice your own needs to give someone else theirs in a way that fosters joy and not resentment
Dishes are patient. Let them wait. The sun will never shine on this day again; the light will never fall quite exactly the same way as it falls in this moment.
Take time to smell the flowers, not because it is a wonderful cliche, but because you may fall on your head some day and lose your sense of smell.
Don’t sabotage your life with fear. Don’t curse yourself thinking that something bad will happen, because you will make it so.
There will be good and painful things, sometimes terrible things in your life. In the end you will die. Embrace the joyful knowing that things more wonderful than you can imagine are already coming toward you.
Love. It is the thing that makes this life experience worth the turmoil, the pain, the loss, the grief; it is the source of joy, of healing, of transcendence.
All these things you have because you chose to let go…to embrace the cool breath of a spring afternoon, to walk, to listen, to feel…to cry tears and embrace pain, and through it, to see beauty and be present in the now.

A gift from the plant nation
5-5-15
images by Corina Roberts, Silver Moccasin Trail, Angeles National Forest