Day 4,004

Growth:

On our hike this morning Becky and I were talking about the power of writing down dreams and goals. We both recognized multiple times in which we had written a dream down, let it slip from our conscious memory, and were then surprised when we happened back up on the list long after and realized we’d already knocked out some of the dreams we’d written and forgotten.

When our mind puts pen to paper there is a re-wiring of our brain, somewhere deep down we remember and unconsciously find a way to help to transmute the dream to reality.

Write my dreams down more often, it doesn’t cost anything, write them down and see what happens.

Appreciation:

Our priest dove deeply into the concept of forgiveness today and it was a clear and direct reminder of one of the biggest things I need to work on in myself. As he shared multiple stories and ideas I kept coming back to one specific phrase that will likely become a part of my 2027 Top 3 Lessons to Remember:

Choose love and forgiveness over fear and anger.

So easy to get angry and frustrated. So easy to have fear and close one’s mind.

Pause, breathe, and remember to love, remember to forgive. Our life is not fully our own, it is to be shared. Share it openly with others, remember to love ALL people, not just those I know, am related to, am friends with, care about, and agree with. Love all, we are all a part of one shared humanity. Love will conquer fear, forgiveness quenches anger.

Thank you Father Conrad for another moving sermon that will have a lasting positive impact on my life.

Presence:

After our morning hike I got into one of my music driven moods, my soul was craving a dose of something specific – The Rural Alberta Advantage, specifically their song Late September Snow. A song about transition, time slipping by without being noticed, the shocking realization that time has moved by as I was oblivious.

I know this change it
brings a heavy heart,
Breaks us all apart.
So, I don’t know where the days they go,
I’m always shocked by late September snow.
I don’t know how the years erode.

Rural Alberta Advantage – Late September Snow

With so many changes in life this seems so appropriate. Turning fifty, becoming an empty nester, the sensation of turning a huge new chapter, they all have created a vortex of “Last Ofs” and “First Ofs,” the combination of which has my brain simultaneously crying in sadness and joy and grief and excitement and wonder. That combo has really helped me see the passing of time so clearly, almost a day by day ticking of the clock which wasn’t there several months ago.

As that song wrapped up I slid back to 3 Sisters, another of their songs focused on the impermanence of our lives, the way we grow so quickly in life, especially when compared to being viewed through the “Eyes of 3 Sisters” – three majestic and iconic peaks outside of Canmore, AB. To us our lives fly by at a breakneck pace, yet they are our entire existence. When viewed through the eyes of 3 Sisters we’re but a blink, a blip.

The music of The Rural Alberta Advantage, such a wonderful way to get my soul and brain rolling this morning after our hike!

Thanks!!!