‘It’s a very fragile world she told us, so walk carefully everywhere you go. And we promised to remember, for as long as we could. Brian Andreas
In the last few months I have shared many bits of my life with Rx for the Soul Readers…. More than a few of those bits have been deeply personal snapshots of my life and although I never intended to get so personal with the 7,000 plus daily readers here, I certainly don’t regret it. When I write the ‘Daily Dose’, it comes from my heart… if I stifle my words and self-edit, the magic evaporates like a raindrop hitting hot asphalt…. So I don’t – and I have no plans to start. For me, writing with an open heart, means writing real- which means that if you stay with me here at Rx for the Soul, you’re going to keep getting those snap shots…. There is no way to disguise that the things in this world that I love most: my husband, my children, my family, friends, and the many unnamed soulful clients that share their laughter and their tears with me each day in my clinical practice… These are the brightest lights and the greatest teachers that I have. That being said, I am always mindful of trying to keep a careful balance between the personal and universal. My goal is that each day my words here serve a higher purpose before they serve a personal need I might have. Some days I succeed at this better than others.
On Tuesday when I sent out the Daily Dose, I was wary that I was perhaps over sharing when I wrote about my eldest child…. I said some words to him, that I needed him to hear. Words I do not say nearly often enough. As a parent, finding that window of opportunity where we can tell our children how precious and amazing, and necessary they are in this world…can be hard to find. Life moves fast…. hours stretch into weeks, and weeks into months…. And before we know it, we are living lives on separate hamster wheels that are close enough in vicinity to one another that it gives us the illusion of connection, but in reality, we are just spinning really fast on separate wheels… never really touching our lives together, heart to heart and soul to soul.
For me, words have always been my bridge…. They have always been the one way I could reach across the abyss of my own daily busy-ness, and touch the lives of others. The Daily Dose that I send out via this blog, has thus far, given me the opportunity to write 524 daily ‘Prescriptions for the Soul.’ That’s 524 opportunities to reach out from my own little hamster wheel, and touch my heart with someone else’s…. and this is where magic can happen…. because what is mine is yours and what is yours is mine…. Why is this? Well, because that is just how this big old universe works.
I am blessed to have this canvas called Rx for the Soul that motivates me , as it did yesterday, to say things that I might not otherwise take the time to say…. And right or wrong, some days I paint with a fine stroke that tells a small story about my life- but if I am succeeding at my task, that fine stroke allows readers to pick up the broad brush of a larger message and apply it to their own lives. It’s an alchemy I cherish…. And one that serves me, as a writer, every bit as much as it may serve you as a reader.
Yesterday, while I was using that fine stroke to say necessary words to my own son, unbeknownst to me, a friend of mine, was waking up to learn that his beautiful boy had left this world before him…. Both of my older children texted me with the same tragic news – that this young man, their friend, was gone. Like any parent, my heart broke into a thousand pieces. The first thing I thought of, was that for my friend, that oh so hard to find little window of time… that opening… that place to say what we need to say to another… for him, it was now gone. My breath caught as abject sorrow washed over me… Sorrow for my friend, sorrow for his beloved family, and sorrow for every single one of us who has or who will face this same heart breaking reality; the reality that at some point, our window to say what we need to say closes…. And then we are left to carry on, with all of our unspoken words rattling around inside of us, like coins in a can.
We all live hard and fast these days… I don’t think there are many among us who have the kind of carefree lives that offer the ability to stroll consciously through our days doling out our love and appreciation in the ways that we should. I know that I don’t…. but I do have this elixir of words in my life called Rx for the Soul; something that gives me a reason to open that window and to put words out into the world that I might never have the courage to release…. if it were not for the collective healing that occurs when real words, touch real hearts. And, yes, on some days it’s personal…. but within the micro resides the macro…. And in some cosmic way…my words, are your words, and we all break and heal together.
Perhaps together we can all learn to carry fewer unspoken words inside of us, because none of us….Not. One. Of. Us.…can afford to tuck those words inside and wait for another day…. If you keep living long enough, you will come to know this universal truth for yourself.
Fine stroke, or broad brush…. it is all the same, because at the deepest levels of truth, there is only one of us here.
‘It’s a very fragile world she told us, so walk carefully everywhere you go. And we promised to remember, for as long as we could.
Rx for the Soul helps me remember… I hope on some days it does the same for you. xo