October 2024
Just Be ... With No Regrets
Listen to the audio version by Dorothy
Welcome to October's Innisfree Moment, a time when we have left this year's summer to step into fall, with its cooler temperatures, shorter daylight hours and colourful harvest season.
First and so very important: My heartfelt thanks and appreciation for the warm and enthusiastic feedback on how September's theme of Be the Light spoke to you, along with news of personal celebrations. While every day IS a gift, I specially congratulate those who have recently joined me in entering their octogenarian years, doing so with pizzazz and the creation of treasured memories! I believe that the meaningful stories we personally experience and share with one another, have no boundaries, but reach far and wide, inspiring others in ways we may never know about, but too are never forgotten.
Just as last month's newsletter evolved when seeing a passing bus with the words, Be the Light, which then linked to other experiences that I shared on the topic, so it is with this month, as my thoughts have taken me back to a series of events that happened within days of one another during a prior October, leaving their never-forgotten message to Just Be ... With No Regrets. From Innisfree's archives, the following is an abridged version:
On short notice I was privileged to marry a beautiful young couple. It was a very emotional occasion as the bride was now in palliative care. Friends and family gathered together to make the day memorable with their presence, colourful flowers and caring stories. As the couple shared their vows, tearfully regretting their married life would be short, the emotion in the room was intense and palpable.
Returning home, I learned that another special young person had died. Previously she had given me a card with a close-up photograph of an eagle taken by her son, hand-written with words she and I had discussed at length: Just Be. Her card remains in a binder along with other treasured gems.
Then, two days later I read an article in our local newspaper about someone making a career change in order to heed the last words of advice from her brother: 'Make sure you leave this life with no regrets'.
A few years have passed since that October, but those events happening close together caused me to reflect on my life, and ask: What seeds am I planting? Am I carrying forward heavy regrets? As motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, wrote: Discipline weighs ounces while regrets weigh tons.
What if, instead of carrying forward the weight of a heavy burden of regret, we look for and focus with gratitude on the gift it brought to the next stage of our life? Were you forced to go in another direction, learn new skills or draw on strengths you may not have used, or known you had? I have had a lifetime of hills and challenging valleys, most requiring that I push through my comfort zone ... surely it wasn't a coincidence that I would later win a Hospice door prize of a coffee cup inscribed with words by Neale Donald Walsch: Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. That too remains in plain sight, as a reminder of those times when I got 'stuck' ... or might again in future! Visual reminders carry a lot of weight!
Just as the purging of our paperwork is often necessary, there are times when our life needs a personal review. Do we need to 'peddle back'? Perhaps we have taken on too many projects that seemed a great idea at the time. Maybe we need to apply boundaries and even at times to consider "NO" as a complete sentence!!! Not easy for some of us; I had to learn that my world would not come to a screeching halt if I said 'no' to a request, and instead to apply self-compassion.
Kindness, compassion and self-compassion are key components of Mindful Meditation programs. I leave you with words by Jon Kabat-Zinn that I read this morning: Breathe and Let Be ... give yourself permission to allow each moment to be exactly as it is and yourself to be exactly as you are. Kabat-Zinn is the author of a book on Mindful Meditation: Wherever you Go, There You Are!
Just as this month's colourful autumn leaf illustration is as it is, let's accept ourselves as we are, each moment as it is, being grateful for the life we have, for family, friends and for each other, and let's Just Be ... with no regrets!
Until next time, may you have a safe, healthy October and, wherever you live, join us in celebrating our Canadian Thanksgiving on October 14th. Blessèd be to you. Namasté!
Dorothy B.
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Rev. Dorothy Blandford, Ph.D
Apt. 202 - 1655 Martin Drive
Surrey, BC, V4A 6E1, Canada
604-535-9016
info@innisfreespirit.com