Loss

Loss

When you lose someone, especially all of the sudden, the loss can be so great that it can be  paralyzing. Nothings seems real anymore. Your world has been turned upside and you no longer feel a sense of security that you felt before. Colors have changed, words no longer hold the same meaning, and time seems to stand still. As hard as you try you just can't rationalize the loss in any way because it just doesn't make sense ... and it never really will. It's in this time though that you can do the most growing and healing, if you allow yourself. Grieving breaks us wide open. It tears down our walls and makes us vulnerable. In that vulnerability is healing. It's the power of being able to let go of the past. It's the opportunity to see each other as souls having a human experience. It's about being able to let sh*t go that you should no longer be holding on to. It's the releasing of all that you've been carrying around for far too long. With loss comes the deeper understanding that love and connection are the only things we take with us in the end. 

Best

Best

It is easy to stoop to someone else's level. It's easy to clap back at another if they provoked you first. It's almost a knee jerk reaction to respond when someone baits you. But after you let those words fly out of your mouth did you really feel any better? Did that person all the sudden stop and say, "you know you're absolutely right. I was a jerk. I'm sorry" or did the exact opposite happen and they continued to come back at you?

We feel the need to defend ourselves, our point of view, our beliefs, our values, our everything all the time. It can be utterly exhausting because at the end of the day did we really change anyone's opinion or just feel beat up and tired. Well then just stop. You don't have to engage in every conversation you are invited to. You don't have to answer back especially if you know it will fall on deaf ears. You can be selective with your words and walk away from a situation with your head still held high. Be the best version of yourself always.

United

United

Sometimes it takes a tragedy in order to see each other as what we all are; souls having a human experience. We quickly see the commonality between us, not the differences. We still don't have to agree or have the same opinion but the mutual respect that we have finding common ground is enough to build that connection.

It doesn't take a lot in order to look at your neighbor, or the person across from you on the train, or the person you are sharing an armrest with on a long flight, or the new person at your job, or a person shopping in the same aisle as you in the grocery store, to connect. All it takes is for you to see that person as well, a person just trying to make it through another day just like you.

We all have our own stories, our own experiences and we all can feel love, hope, and connection if we allow ourselves to lead with that first. All of those lost on Sept. 11th could never feel their loved ones embrace or hear the words I love you again nor can any of the family members left to carry on. 18 years later, have we build a nation on that feeling of connection we had on September 12th or did we allow that to somehow erode? It's time to challenge ourselves to be better, to do better, to connect more with each other person to person. It's time we remember who we were on that day and who we ultimately are - united.