Hope

I woke up in a surprisingly good mood this morning…well, after pounding snooze on the alarm clock 50 times and being surgically (and unwillingly) removed from the bed.

Last night I paused as I swept the back porch, and I stood and looked out over my back yard. By day, it’s a humble square of grass bordered by trees and a shabby fence that has seen better days, but at night it comes alive, rustling of squirrels and birds among the trees and leaves, darting of frogs drawn to the fish pond in the corner, an occasional neighborhood cat who chalked my yard into their evening patrol of their boundaries.

I’ve landscaped the backyard a million times in my mind, a glorious vegetable garden off the kitchen door, or maybe a rose garden with a stone path winding through it, or better yet, left wide open for the kids to run and play, and tackle and pile up on Gary.

There’s an immense difference between knowing it’s time to let go of hostility and anger, and actually feeling that weight finally lifted, a burden so heavy you didn’t know how crushing it was until it’s thankfully gone. Your lungs expand and you can breathe, feel, smile, live.

What is different? I’m still me. I will still get angry. I am not blinded to the wrongs done by others. But my focus is back to what matters. My life, my love, my heart, my family.

The harder you fight to hold on to specific assumptions, the more likely there’s gold in letting go of them.– John Seely Brown

Stand up and walk out of your history.– Phil McGraw

Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.— Author Unknown