Rethinking the Next Stage of Your Life

Imagine a GPS that is set on a certain course. You know where you want to go, you type in the address and then trust that it will direct you to your destination.

One thing that the machine may not comprehend is that there are times when detours, accidents and road construction get in the way of an otherwise direct route. What does the voice in hand-held device calmly and in a matter-of-fact manner say to you?

One simple word: RECALCULATING. Then it goes about its job of re-directing your trip.

In 2008, my inner GPS did a major recalculation. My 84 year old, robust, solid-as-a-rock father succumbed to Parkinson’s Disease and left my mother who was his sweetheart for more than 52 years to continue on without him. That she did, with resilience and a joie de vivre that often times would mask her grief. The hardest part for me was knowing how much she missed him, even as she told me that she wasn’t planning on joining him any time soon and had a lot of life left in her.

Nearly 2 years after his passing, she was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure and end-stage kidney disease. The GPS sent me far afield, as we went on the hospice journey together. I had the blessing of being with her for a few days at a time, every month for the last seven months of her life. We spoke about ‘life, the Universe and everything,’ and that included death. There were no taboo subjects and nothing left unspoken. She passed November 26, 2010 and I am certain that my father was there to greet her.

What I now KNOW is that love is eternal, the boundaries between this world and the next are rice paper thin and that communication with loved ones is merely a thought away. I have learned that we sentient beings are both vulnerable and resilient, which means that we are on a see-saw, alternately up in the air and grounded. Because of that, we are called on to be of much needed support to each other.

Since we are all on this sometimes wild ride called incarnation, it would be so much more rewarding to view our daily encounters through the eyes of possibility, which is what I refer to as being an ‘opti-mystic’.

I have found that both joy and sadness are contagious, part and parcel of this human condition. Each can be fleeting, depending on the meaning we assign to them and our willingness to shift our perceptions. It’s all energy; our thoughts, feelings and actions.

How much more fulfilling would the next period of your life be if you knew that you could be the mistress or master of your own bliss and that no one could give it to you and no one could take it away from you?

I invite you to embrace that each day, by setting intention for creating the life of your dreams and desires. It is your birthright and you get to have it. Embrace it all.