My dad recently began digitizing and sharing old pictures from volumes of paper photo albums he has collected over the years. Many of the albums had been handed down to him from his parents. It has brought back so many beautiful memories of my childhood; I feel so blessed that he took the time to copy and share.
As I looked into the eyes of the now long dead relatives in faded Kodak pictures, it was hard enough to remember their names or how I was related to them, much less what brought value and purpose to their lives. What were their struggles? What were their fears? What were their dreams?
It made me wonder in a hundred years, what purposeful mark besides DNA, would I will leave for my descendants? Will my life have meaning at all or will I just become an old faded picture?
What does live on are the "life lessons" we teach our children and those we care about. Lessons which have been gifted to us from the dedication and experiences, good and bad of our ancestors. I have to remind myself often to give importance only to the things that add value to my life's purpose; to not get bogged down with the meaningless ebbs and flows of life, that naturally occur in our daily hectic modern world.
To an ant carrying food on its back, a tiny rock blocking its path must look like and insurmountable mountain. Based on our perspective, the sometimes meaningless challenges we face can take on momentous meaning, due to perspective. This past week I was feeling a bit frustrated with someone, over a particular issue I was dealing with. Just before class, one of our yoga students came up to me with a big beautiful smile. I asked her, "What is going on girl, you look so happy today?" She looked at me, with her eyes beaming good energy and said, "David, I have just completed my 18th round of chemotherapy; I am still here, I am alive and still fighting...." Wow that instantly brought me to my emotional knees; changing my perspective instantly.
What struggles are you facing in your life today, that you are giving way too much power too? In one hundred years how will you be remembered?