Instead, I'd like to share some words written by my long-time friend, Liz T-G. You will find them on her very nice blog, but I am reprinting them here (with permission). She really summed up a lot of the kind of thinking I have been doing about recent faux pas, "learning experiences," and general screw ups I have been dealing with. And at the end, she sums up why I think I am going to be OK after all. So, read these smart words from Liz as I go to women's group and feel grateful for having recorded my ups and downs the past 5 years:
In real life, you can't take things back. In our minds and hearts and memories, we edit freely, changing history as we meant it to be, have learned it ought to have been, or wished it were. Nothing changes what we have done, or what we have left undone.
Life changes, though. People change, thoughts evolve. If we're lucky, understanding grows and deepens. The lens through which we--and others--view our actions or inactions is constantly shifting, growing more acute, or less interested or seeing with a different perspective than it did a few short years before.
Still what's done is done. Scurry as we might, we can't control what happens next and next and next. This helplessness gets scary, at times. Oh, ok. All of the time. I'd really like to come up with some pithy aphorism right here, demonstrating that I know where to place all of these f*&^%$ growth experiences, how to manage them, how to live through them.
Surprise. Not so much. My goal is continued breathing, intentionally with loving kindness toward all. Most moments, just breathing is a worthy accomplishment.
