As a reminder, I set out to write to you about some topics I feel I know something about and some of which I am less knowledgeable, but are important none-the-less. I want this series of Nuggets to encourage you to think about these things.
I think they are important topics to have a certain sense of awareness about as you enter into the next phase of life. I hope you will consider these short essays a gift to you and I hope Emily and Lucy might also read and think about these things, as they continue to grow. Ultimately you will want to create your own way of walking in the world, and it does not have to be the same way that I walk.
There are five over-riding themes in these short essays. As I have gotten older, I have decided that these five things should guide me in all that I do. Here they are, my guiding five, by which I strive:
- Everybody has his or her own path. (MAY 3, 2014)
- Life should be good, fun and easy. (MAY 5, 2014)
- This too shall pass. (TODAY'S TOPIC)
- Wear a smile, be a friend.
- Stay whole.
After touching on each of my guiding five, I hope to write about ten other topics, broken into two groups of five. The first group represents topics that I feel I have some level of understanding or self mastery. The second group represents areas or subjects in which I hope to learn more about - opportunities for growth. Remember the two questions we learned as a family years ago?
First ask, what did I do well? Then ask, what could I have done better?
You might think of these two sets of topics as my attempt to answer those two questions.
First five: Some sense of mastery or understanding (What did I do well?)
- On love, marriage, and family
- On exercise and health
- On happiness, contentment, change, and loss
- On spirituality, religion, prayer, and meditation
- On adventure, spontaneity, and intuition
- On money, stuff, and things
- On fear and anxiety
- On addiction and rituals
- On business and partnerships
- On music, art, and dance
So that is a nice review of the series, but what about today's topic, 'This too shall pass.' As noted in a previous post, I first remember hearing this phrase from Aunt Dianne, and second from your mom. Of course, it is also often believed to be a Bible Verse, though in doing a little research I see that it is not actually a phrase found in the Bible. Here is short essay that I encourage you to read. It points to a number of verses in the Bible that can help you navigate through choppy waters.
I also really like the image that I posted at the top. It is a good reminder that we all have ups and downs throughout our lives. Some of our challenges (down times) will be our own doing, and some will be caused by others or simply out of our control. The same can be said of the good times. But what we can control is our attitude and our belief in ourselves and in a higher power!
In closing, I want to encourage you to read as much as you possibly can about this topic. Study the lives of successful people and you will see that often times they were successful not because they knew how to do everything right, but rather because they learned from their mistakes and they always got back up, when something in life knocked them down. A book that I remember reading when I was about your age, was Dr. Robert Schuller's Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! I think you might like it. Send me your new address and I will have a copy delivered as a house warming gift.
Next - Wear a smile, be a friend!
