Reflections for 1/9/11

"The secret that we share I cannot tell in full. But this much I will tell. What's lost is nothing to what's found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup."(F. Buechner "Listening to Your Life" p. 9)

I do wonder why it is that most folks would rather talk about what they've lost.  We seem stuck sometimes in what we no longer have, and lose sight of what we have right now.  I know that I am not the same person I was 27 years ago. I've lost that physique. But I've found in the following 27 years a person who is much happier, more relaxed and can reclaim some of what was lost physically, but not all of it, because I don't need to.

We do seem to be surrounded by death. Acts of violence reported daily, obituaries a regular feature in newspapers.  Yet we often fail to see the signs of life all around us. There aren't daily birth announcements in papers. We rarely hear of random acts of kindness in the news.

And yet all the negative thinking when compared to what is possible when we compare it with what is good does not measure up.  The secret of course that is hard to explain is how to live with the negative while not letting it define and control you.

Blessings,
Ed