In 7th grade, I sat in my middle school classroom of unruly students. We had a substitute teacher which gave the kids a license of sorts to act up. To this day, I remember the teacher. She said something that has stayed with me to this very day. As the class talked out of turn and did all kinds of disruptive things, the substitute calmly said, “don’t worry....you’ll want this moment back one day.” She was saying that we would later wish for the opportunity to treat this moment differently.
My thoughts took me to further and deeper interpretations. Did she mean that we’ll wish for a time when we were this age again? Or maybe that snapshot of life meant that certain people were still alive or maybe we’d be faced with an awful situation where we’d hoped that we were anywhere but in that moment.
Throughout the years, my mind has wandered over that sentiment. What about any given moment would I want back? Having experienced loss, good and bad times, or even for the sake of just plain old nostalgia, I have indeed longed for moments that have passed.
How I would love to have a conversation with my mother again. Or if my best friend was still alive, I wonder what advice would she be giving me or what would we be laughing about. If I had a chance to look in the five-year old face of my now 17 year old son, how would I respond to him knowing that time would grow him up faster than the cliche says? How would I make each moment count?
First, I have to ask why do we even miss certain moments? It could be because we are too busy, too distracted or maybe we get comfortable thinking we are guaranteed another chance to have a moment again. In other words, we take our moments for granted.
When we find the gratitude in the moments we get, we become more present. We make each moment count. Maybe that means putting our phones down to engage with our loved ones. Or it means taking a breath to bring our awareness back from our drifting thoughts. It could be savoring humor and allowing a laugh to linger just a little longer, or taking a picture to preserve that minute or...it could literally mean thanking God for that one slice of this life.
Moments come and quickly leave. What goes with them can either enhance our lives or take something with them. Gratitude helps us intentionally notice what is happening in our lives and then be thankful for it. For the cherished moments that we often miss, may we always notice them - the first time.
]]>I would write messages on index cards about healing and wholeness for my children and place them on mirrors in my bathroom and bedroom dresser. I wanted to just always see them. When my kids were ages 3 and 1, I would have them repeat certain phrases over themselves. Particularly, my oldest who was just diagnosed with autism. I would have him say, “Thank you God for healing me.” We’d say it over and over at the most random times…in the car, at the park, in stores as he rode in shopping carts. Whenever the thought hit me, I would have him say it. I accepted him fully; I just did not want him to regress. I prayed that he kept all of the abilities he had and thrived past any disabilities that could have hindered him.
I went back to this name, The Truth Collection, and had the idea to design some lovely cards so others could have these beautiful affirmations and reminders around their home, or in their journals, too. And it stayed just that, an idea…for YEARS.
Fast forward through a lot of big life stuff, and a business of designing for other companies and individuals, and that desire to birth The Truth Collection was still always, always there. I loved designing for my clients. To give their events, programs or new companies “a look” was a huge reward. And to see someone holding something I designed? I can’t describe that excitement. But as more life began to happen, I became more aware of how I needed to encourage myself and strengthen my self-worth. I could say a whole lot about how feeling unworthy attracted so much pain, struggle and dysfunction, but I take them ALL as lessons and by learning what I DIDN’T want, I became very clear on what I DID want for my life.
I learned to be intentional. After experiencing significant losses, I became keenly aware of this window of time that is my life. We ALL have these precious timeframes to live, and it’s worth asking, “HOW do we want to live them?” We can make conscious choices to dwell on more positive than negative. We can fill our spaces, our homes, our time and our identity with what serves us our higher selves – with what serves the good in others.
I once met a man who stated in his beautiful flamboyance, “I only surround myself with beautiful things I want to see. If I don’t like it, I don’t buy it, watch it or listen to it.” I never forgot that.
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