Pioneers

A few nights ago, my husband and I got to talking and reminiscing about our honeymoon in St. Martin, which is a Caribbean island. I told him that I remember feeling a lot of anxiety about my job, during our trip. I was 23-years-old, and my job was selling college textbooks for Prentice Hall Publishing Company. By age 25, I had quit that job and I was a full-time mother to our eldest son. So over twenty-five years ago, while I was on one of the most wonderful, landmark vacations of my lifetime, I can still acutely remember the stress and the worry, which I allowed to happen within me, about a job that turned out to be such a small, somewhat insignificant blip in my life. Of course, I still experienced an amazing honeymoon, and I still get a Christmas card every single year from my previous manager at that job. But in reflection, I allowed my stomach-churning nervousness and uneasiness which I’ve been prone to, most of my life, to affect that trip, and many, many others, despite proving to myself again and again, that the worry never, ever helps anything.

We all know the platitudes about worry: “Worry doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” – Corrie Ten Boom “Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.”- Kahlil Gibran “Worrying is using your imagination to create something that you don’t want.” – Esther Hicks

I read that in order to help yourself to stop worrying, you should memorize sayings like the ones above, or memorize comforting Bible verses to help soothe your concerns. These actions help, but what helps me even more is to reflect on the thousands of times which I have worried about events in my life, that always ended up turning out just fine, and sometimes even more than fine. I think that is one of the most beautiful aspects of aging. The older you get, you pile up a whole, giant cache of experiences to reflect on, and to learn from. The lessons get repeated again and again and again, in only slightly different forms and scenarios, until you finally decide to learn the lesson for good.

“Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.” – Deepak Chopra

Let’s be pioneers of the future, friends. I think that this is a human life’s purpose, in a nutshell. And no worries, we’ve got all of the Love in the Universe to support us, all along the way.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.