[If you have a problem downloading to color, click over to my Facebook album here, click “download in high resolution” on the lower right, and color your heart out!]
While we may only get once chance, we don’t have to have just one story. Our gift, however we got here and whatever we’re here for and where ever we wind up, is that we have imagination. And imagination means we can change our story, take a different path, make up a brand new path, be a star in the story of our life. Or not.
You create your life by what you believe. What you believe colors what you see.
“What would I have done differently in my 20s and 30s if I had known then what I know now? For one thing, I would have laughed more; seen more Laurel and Hardy movies. And I would have grieved less. I would have understood earlier that not all losses are permanent and that some things lost were not worth keeping.
People think about this a lot.
“I would have taken more time to note the changing seasons. (‘Can you believe it?’ an elderly friend asked me one spring day. ‘Can you believe that even if I live to be a hundred, I will see all this only 100 times?’)
“I would have been more daring. Emotionally daring, that is; in the spirit of Eudora Welty’s observation that ‘all serious daring starts from within.’
“I would have understood sooner how profoundly satisfying the ordinary transactions of daily life can be: the perfect cup of morning coffee; the son shouting down ‘Good night’ from his room; the ginger-colored cat caught napping in a triangle of sunlight.” Alice Steinbach, from the Baltimore Sun, as quotes in Reader’s Digest.
“When people know their death is close, they often lose the hope that life will turn out the way they wanted it to. Then they can see that life is so delicious – because that is all there is, this very moment. ” Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen
“There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.” George Santayana
“What do you want them to say about you when you’re gone? Say I never toed a line, I went my own sweet way to the last.” Goethe
All above quoted in Heron Dance: Waswinipi-Water-Whales-Wildernness, Issue 30
Do you know who you are? Are you who you want to be?
Are you living Thoreau’s life of quiet desperation or have you decided to treat every moment as the amazing gift it actually is?
Do you take at least one action every day toward your personal paradise? Do you get up with a “hell, yes! here comes the day and here I am to greet it!”?
Are you only grateful for the “good” things?
Can you remember anything in your life that seemed bad and then turned out to be amazing?
What are you doing today that makes you who you are?
Wylde Women’s Wisdom
Some people go through life trying to find out what the world holds for them – only to find out too late that it’s what they bring to the world that really counts. Lucy Maud Montgomery
7 Comments
Jenny – one of the things I’m using this AEDM for is going back and mining old posts from years ago – wow…hard to believe that I actually have “years ago” in blogging. It helps me remember things I sometimes forget. I haven’t seen a “Heron’s Dance” in years, don’t know if it still exists. But it was a treasure of little art magazine.
Andrea: I love AEDM for this very reason – I meet such great creative types, find great blogs, andover time make great friendships – sometimes we just visit during AEDM but sometimes it spills over into regular contact. Glad you are finding things to enjoy!
Ellie – delighted to see you here enjoying yourself!
iHanna – have you tried the Wylde Women’s Wisdom daily quotes yet? I get my greatest response from folks who subscribe (free) to them.
Diane – yesterday’s was my favorite. But that always changes – be sure to share with us!
Okay, I am downloading and coloring this. I love these woman images yesterday and today.
Tammy, what a great post. Your writing and collection of quotes is finding their way to me. Thanks.
I LOVE your post, especially Alice Steinbach’s quote about finding joy in the simple everyday things…. reminds me to “lighten” up and feel the joy in every moment…
so easy to write…so much harder to maintain!! 🙂
Love your coloring page – I am enjoying your entries – thanks so much for sharing!!
I am so enjoying your entires and something you write rings true to me just about every day. So glad to have found you through AEDM!