“Life is not measured by the
number of breaths we take but by
the moments that take our breath away!” ~ Author unknown
Good
morning!
This quote
from Cathi arrived at a perfect time for me – it was one of those
“unexpected
blessings.” I
received it just after
learning that a close friend of my brother and myself had passed away
over the
weekend. He was in
his thirties and his
death was sudden and unexpected. 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 anymore.
One of the
greatest
gifts we can find in tragedy is awareness.
We learn the value of the 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 this
morning. Then this
unexpected email came
from Cathi…and I’ll let her tell you the rest.
I
may have heard or 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 scrapbooking to add quotes to his
boards.
The
above quote was on one of the
sheets. Russell was
only forty-five, 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 scenery around him 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 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 peeking through the clouds, etc.
In fact, my “something great” from yesterday
was that as I reviewed a video
that 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 thirty 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.
Similar to
the “something great is going to happen” quote, this one has an impact
by
reminding us to be aware of and acknowledge all the beauty and
greatness around
us.
Your Turn:
Today, practice awareness of the moment.
Don’t take anything for granted.
Celebrate today and all of the people in your
life.
Today’s
Affirmation: I
celebrate life.
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?
