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Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Learning to celebrate life

By Shirley-Joy Barrow
Whanganui Midweek·
28 Nov, 2022 03:00 PM2 mins to read

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Touched by an Angel

Touched by an Angel

“Life is meant to be lived as a celebration. This is how you write on the wall of life.” Joseph P Lash.

Life as a celebration, thoughts from Joseph Lash’s book commemorating the centenary of Eleanor Roosevelt’s remarkable life from her birth, capturing the full span of her remarkable life and the fibre of her vibrant personality.

We have just celebrated Halloween, Guy Fawkes, finishing exams and now move into what some people call the silly season. The church would say it is the celebration of birth, prepare to hold vigils and move into expectancy of new beginnings. For many of us, it is an opportunity to be with family and friends, a luxury many people have not had in recent years.

I wonder if we are losing the power of celebration, as the world changes and becomes a more difficult place to be in do we take time to celebrate. A birthday, a reminder to celebrate and update a life. A work promotion, a new baby, learning to ride a bike alone, to swim without fear, to hug a friend, to negotiate the footpaths in a mobility scooter, to walk again unaided. The life of a friend recently passed. There are many more times we could celebrate.

My Angels suggest that learning to embrace each other’s journeys, appreciate our positive traits and make sure the special people in our lives know how much they mean to us, are unique celebrations. Not only on any specific day, but on any day and every day. In doing this we celebrate who we are in the deepest part of our hearts.

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I am going to try harder to not simply live life, I want to celebrate life: the small wins and differences, the accomplishments, and the diversity.

The late Queen Elizabeth ll once said, “Let us not take ourselves too seriously. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom and we must always be ready to listen and respect others’ point of view.”

I do not want to lose the power of celebration or to take myself too seriously, I want to hear wisdom and share it, to try harder to respect other points of view. These words will be my guide in the weeks ahead, how about you?

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Arohanui. Shirley-Joy


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