What a month February has been!
The significance of the extra day this year seems a good time to reflect and give thanks -- still bitter-sweet, and yet hopeful that the new birthday year will bring dreams together...
It's a cloudy day today; so it has been this entire month -- cold and wet. "You haven't really seen Winter," a friend reassures me; another one exclaims: "This is the mildest we've had!"
The significance of the extra day this year seems a good time to reflect and give thanks -- still bitter-sweet, and yet hopeful that the new birthday year will bring dreams together...
I'm in Europe -- my favourite continent, and as I sit at my work desk in the University facing dry, leafless branches of Maple, sudden darting movements catch my eye. At the apex of one of these trees is a nest; a red-brown squirrel lives there.
I watch him (or her) run briskly over one branch, jump on to another, shoot down the tree trunk, up again along the same path to the nest. All this hop-skip-jump takes less than two minutes. What is most intriguing about the little fella is the intent behind the morning ritual. It is almost as if there was no time to ponder over the surroundings, no luxury to discover 'what's new' -- strictly focused on achieving purpose (whatever is in that nest must need desperate attention!).
We are this little squirrel indeed. I know I am. Behind this purposeful running about to make life happen, I'm afraid I forget to live, to dream a personal dream and be able to pull it off before I am six feet under. February brings this priority to light almost always. What are birthdays for if not to relocate yourself! So, yes I do have this dream -- a very simple one: to thrive. To reach peaks I never knew existed within me.
No matter the situation that surrounds, it is absolutely essential to 'thrive'-- I believe. We have much to discover about ourselves as individuals, as persons, and each self-discovery brings you closer to being the human you are always meant to be. We rather insulate ourselves from us, and wear 'jackets' of various kinds to protect us from simply living. With our lives pre-designed, what else does one expect!
But seriously, the inward journey of discovering yourself is far more intriguing, not to mention the most challenging -- getting naked about yourself is the least prettiest thing, but still the most memorable, be assured. The courage to change is always just within us even if nothing is as it seems because the future does speak ruthlessly to us.
Discard those jackets; the weather has its seasons -- so what!
I watch him (or her) run briskly over one branch, jump on to another, shoot down the tree trunk, up again along the same path to the nest. All this hop-skip-jump takes less than two minutes. What is most intriguing about the little fella is the intent behind the morning ritual. It is almost as if there was no time to ponder over the surroundings, no luxury to discover 'what's new' -- strictly focused on achieving purpose (whatever is in that nest must need desperate attention!).
We are this little squirrel indeed. I know I am. Behind this purposeful running about to make life happen, I'm afraid I forget to live, to dream a personal dream and be able to pull it off before I am six feet under. February brings this priority to light almost always. What are birthdays for if not to relocate yourself! So, yes I do have this dream -- a very simple one: to thrive. To reach peaks I never knew existed within me.
No matter the situation that surrounds, it is absolutely essential to 'thrive'-- I believe. We have much to discover about ourselves as individuals, as persons, and each self-discovery brings you closer to being the human you are always meant to be. We rather insulate ourselves from us, and wear 'jackets' of various kinds to protect us from simply living. With our lives pre-designed, what else does one expect!
But seriously, the inward journey of discovering yourself is far more intriguing, not to mention the most challenging -- getting naked about yourself is the least prettiest thing, but still the most memorable, be assured. The courage to change is always just within us even if nothing is as it seems because the future does speak ruthlessly to us.
Discard those jackets; the weather has its seasons -- so what!
