|
Good morning! This quote from Cathi arrived at a perfect time for me--one of those "unexpected blessings." I had just learned that a close friend of both me and my brother passed away. He was in his thirties and his death was sudden and unexpected. As most of you know, my brother passed away suddenly in 1997. Throughout the years, I have learned to find the "blessing in tragedy" by focusing on the gifts he left behind instead of the moments we do not have together.
One of the greatest gifts we find in tragedy is awareness. We learn the value of a moment--of a second. We learn not to take any moment for granted, because each moment is special. I wanted to create a Good Morning in memory of Todd--as a reminder to value what we have--today--while we have it. I couldn't seem to find the right words. Then this unexpected email came from Cathi... and I'll let her tell you the rest....
I may have heard / seen this quote before, but if I did, it really didn't have meaning for me until my brother passed away unexpectedly last November. My sister and I put together picture boards for his memorial and purchased some vellum sheets used in scrap booking to add quotes to his boards.
The quote above was on one of the sheets. Russell was only 45, so we felt he was much too young to die -- he hadn't taken enough breaths in his life... But as we looked through his pictures to select those that would go on the boards, we found many in which he was in nature and the scene around him was one of those that would take your breath away -- sitting on a cliff overlooking the Rocky Mountains; precariously standing on a rock pile overlooking a beautiful valley; sitting among the fall leaves. We could see that even though his life was cut short, he had many beautiful moments that took his breath away.
Now this quote has more meaning - it reminds me to pay attention to those moments that take my breath away. It may be as simple as the beauty of a snowflake, the sparkle of dew on the grass, the smile of a child, a ray of sunshine peaking through the clouds, etc. In fact, my "something great" from yesterday was that as I reviewed a video I had taken last week of the clouds and sky, I found that I had captured three gorgeous rays of sunshine shooting out of a cloud. As I paused the video and captured the pictures frame by frame, I ended up with 30 beautiful pictures of the rays that hadn't been visible with the naked eye. While some people may not think this is anything special, it took my breath away and made me smile, and as I shared the pictures with my family, they had similar reactions. I've included one of the pictures with this note.
(Note from Brook: you can see Cathi's picture by going to http://www.changeyourlifechallenge.com/gmcathi.htm).
Similar to the "Something great is going to happen" quote, this one has an impact be reminding us to be aware of and acknowledge all the beauty and greatness around us.
Challenge Life!
Brook Noel
Ready to take the Challenge?
www.changeyourlifechallenge.com
And as always, don't forget to start your day with a heartfelt "Something great is going to happen today... I can't wait to see what it is!"
And when ending your day ask yourself, "What is one more thing I can do to make today matter?"
If this message was forwarded to you by a friend, you can subscribe to this free newsletter or other free newsletters from Brook Noel click here |
