When I was in my mid-twenties, I learned a valuable lesson on making assumptions. Never assume anything, as it will make an ass of you and me (ass/u/me). In this next story, a man and I exchanged information but forgot that we had completely different preconceived notions. I can laugh about this now. But at the time, it could have taken an unfortunate turn. It taught me that if I am talking to someone, I need to engage in that conversation.
I have had many moments in my life where I found myself in my overactive imagination standing on a cliff. The size of the cliff depended on how big the possible leap was going to be. I do know that life will kick me in the backside of that cliff. I have found myself grasping at nothing but air and wondering where the screaming was coming from.
Because I am choosing the light, I am choosing to serve. We all understand the familiar acts of kindness. Some examples are letting someone in front of you in the checkout line or giving up your seat for someone who needs it more. I find the reactions to my unfamiliar random acts of kindness very entertaining.
To forgive: a verb to stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake. The problem with my original interpretation of that definition was that I assumed that I only needed to forgive others. You know what happens when you assume. The lesson I learned was that to grant another forgiveness: I had to forgive myself.
I awaken before dawn most mornings. It is now my favorite time of the day. When I was younger, the only time I saw a sunrise was on my way home from work that night. This changed dramatically when my youngest was born. She taught me that to keep my sanity, I need to make time daily to check myself. This is checking my mental, emotional, and physical state.
One of the hardest things I had to learn was that there are twenty-four hours in a day. Anyone over the age of six knows this, right? Time is infinite, but we cannot go back or save it up to use it later. Time is not some movie where we can gamble with it. I learned that life will change in a blink of an eye when I was thirteen.
Lao Tzu once said, ” Time is a created thing. To say I don’t have time is to say I don’t want to.” Waking up every morning and laying your head down to sleep at night is not a guarantee.