BECOMING A PART OF SOMETHING LARGER THAN OURSELVES

It takes time.  It takes dedication.  It takes work. And it takes commitment. And it also takes putting yourself last sometimes. Take it from me, it also takes smiling and forging ahead, when you don't think you can take another step and when you least feel like it.  It takes sacrifice.

"Smile though your heart is aching - smile even though its breaking." 

And you know, sometimes, just sometimes all it takes is stepping back and realizing that we are all already a part of something larger than ourselves. Our 'issues' simply are not that important in the scheme of things.  And our 'stuff,' our 'things' are just not that important.  Moments are important.  The way we make people feel is important.  The way we love is important.  The way we reach out and hold the hand of someone hurting is important. The way we let our love and compassion for our fellow man rise to the surface in moments of despair is important.  Understanding we are all different and accepting that is important.

"Becoming a part of something larger than ourselves." I have preached repeatedly to my therapy dog teams, "It isn't about you, it isn't about your dog, it is about the patient struggling to heal." 

So how do we do this?  How do we set aside our own demons and pain and anger to become a part of something larger than ourselves?

I opened the back door this morning at 4:30 am to let the dogs outside and then to write.  I was instantly overcome with the beauty of the cool, crisp late Spring morning, the piercing fragrance of the star-shaped jasmine blossoms on my pergola, and a light like none other shining through the oak trees - exquisite in its perfection.  The full moon.  The full moon. 

A dove moved in the pomegranate tree over my patio and sent me a soft cooing message, as if to say, "It's not time - remember what truly matters." 

 Magnificience!  Splendor!

I stood there in my 'jammies' inhaling.  Inhaling the moment, inhaling the beauty, and inhaling the silence found in this tiny speck in time.  In that place, I was a part of something larger than myself.  All was perfection.  All was peace.

"As eternity is reckoned there's a lifetime in a second."

Piet Hein