"Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to look like and celebrating it for everything that it is." ~Mandy Hale
Listening to the news over the last week reminded me that we never know exactly what is around the next corner of our lives. The things that we carefully gather up and keep in special places can mean very little when it seems our lives may be cut short or we can no longer live where we were. Things happen and our expectations don't match up to reality.
I often have the opportunity to touch lives with amazing people who are living life's twists and turns. People who are faced with changing directions and find themselves forging new paths. Sometimes these new directions are good ones and sometimes they are terrifying. It is when these difficult times happen that I find myself in a place of grief and mourn the loss of the way I imagined things would be. These things can happen so quickly, critical illness, a disability or chronic pain. I don't know about you, but my first words would often be "Why me?" I'd agonise and seem convinced this was not how my life was supposed to be.
It was only when I began to let go of that sense of entitlement we all seem to have tucked away inside us. Quieting that very loud voice that tells us we could think better than we do or have more than we have. When I stop and be still and quiet, listen to my Angels, I hear their encouragement to live in the moment, to simply focus on getting through the next hour and the next day and all will be well. My Angels have always suggested we humans can overcome great difficulty and loss, and they are right.
I leave you with these words from Rachel Marie Martin, who believes, like I do, in the power of the human spirit and our ability to overcome, thrive: "Sometimes you have to let go of the picture of what you thought life would be like and learn to find joy in the story you're living." Find JOY in the week ahead.
Arohanui.
Shirley-Joy
