November 2024
Bridge to the Future ... A Year Later
Listen to the audio version by Dorothy
Welcome to November's Innisfree Moment! As I turned my calendar over to November I read a reminder to check back on what I had written a year ago, November 2023, titled Bridge to the Future, and illustrated with the original art above by friend, artist and writer, Eve Lees, (https://www.artnews-healthnews.com), depicting a person coming out of the mist onto a bridge. Paraphrasing what I had then written: "... how do you envision your life evolving in the months ahead, by December 2024 ... what hopes and dreams would we now set and then share with one another?" The idea had formed when watching a TEDx talk by international speaker Mary Morrissey on The Hidden Code for Transforming Dreams into Reality (https://www.mary.morrissey.com).
The reality is, we are now days away from December 2024, and whether your year was a breathless wonder (my experience) or a gentle meandering, we can't deny it did happen day by day, moment by moment.
I have a manila folder with a treasure-trove of inspirational articles that might be useful one day. Now later than I like with November's newsletter, and reviewing its contents today I discovered the following thoughts by Emma Curtis Hopkins (1849 - 1925), known as the teacher of teachers, an American spiritual author and one of the founders of the New Thought philosophy that I studied at length:
"All of your affairs, as you now look at them, represent your former way of thinking ... held together by the glue of your former ideas."
The quote continues that if we withdraw the glue ... our affairs will all fall to pieces to let the new affairs - representing our new way of thinking - establish themselves.
Some of our ideas do remain steadfast and become our reality, while others shift with the passage of time. A few weeks ago a youthful and spirited neighbour who had set her sights on reaching 100, died suddenly at 98; another friend to whom I spoke on her recent 99th birthday and asked if she was anticipating her 100th next year, responded with laughing enthusiasm, oh, yes!
Why do I mention these examples, you might wonder? Because, for many years my vision was also to live to 100, in good health ... with an option for renewal! While I still hope that vision will become my reality, as my intentions are numerous, after some deep-seated reflection my priority shifted from that future vision to the present-day one, of living each day to the fullest, and always with kindness.
Dr. David R. Hamilton quotes Mark Twain at Page 161 of his book, The Five Side Effects of Kindness: "Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see". When writing one of my ministry thesis papers I asked a special friend, then in her later nineties, what she considered to be life's most important trait; without hesitation she said "kindnesss". As too does the wise horse in my often-read favourite book by Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse: "Nothing beats kindness ... it sits quietly beyond all things."
Some reflections, to which I very much relate and remain in my aforementioned treasure-trove of inspirational articles, were written by Pete McMartin about his friend and colleague, Shelley Fralic, a longtime columnist at the Vancouver Sun, subsequent to her passing in May 2021. He ended his article by leaving the last words to her, which was how she had concluded her January 2021 column, where she spoke about the many things she would miss, such as ice-cream, fresh snow, a warm duvet, etc.:
"For it is in the ordinary where our lives flourish, in the ritual and mundane where astonishing beauty is found ... in the realization that there is no great secret to life except that life is extraordinary. And if we have lived every day knowing this, there will be many things to miss."
So as we continue through November towards the sacredness and music of the Christmas Season, perhaps with some reflection on this year's hopes, dreams and realities, may we live each day to its fullest in day-tight compartments, as Sir William Osler advised students in a speech at Yale. Above all, using Eve's vision, may we see ourselves coming out of the mist and experiencing our life as extraordinary ... for surely it is, and SO are we!
To our American friends, may you have a bountiful Thanksgiving Celebration on November 28. Until we meet again, from my heart to yours, may all our days be safe and healthy ... 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
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