Accepting the Challenge
May you remember
The prior path you’ve taken
So as to know peace
It’s important for us to pay homage to that which we left behind, for it is that journey that has shaped us into the present moment. Even if those times were challenged in nature, they served as a backdrop of possibilities and light for current and future moments. And if they were filled with exuberance and success, may we always be mindful of those moments and stay humble in regard to the rewards they provided us.
Author, Bianca Sparacino, wrote a book titled “A Gentle Reminder” in January of this year that is filled with words of wisdom and comfort. In one of her passages, she goes on to share the following — The kindest people are not born that way, they are made. They are the souls that have experienced so much at the hands of life, they are the ones who have dug themselves out of the dark, who have fought to turn every loss into a lesson. The kindest people do not just exist — they choose to soften where circumstance has tried to harden them, they choose to believe in goodness, because they have seen firsthand why compassion is so necessary. They have seen firsthand why tenderness is so important in this world.
So as we cross from one path to another, may we always remember the beauty that exists in each moment of our being awake. Let us not choose to pull the covers over our head when the going gets tough, rather, let us find the courage to carry on and accept that which is ours to learn. For it was never the student who wasn’t completely challenged and at times discouraged, who ultimately rose to the occasion and accepted their hard-fought diploma from the school of life. And in that moment, the truest reckoning of what it means to be compassionate towards self and others manifests itself from the darkest of skies and the brightest of days.
