Have you ever wished you could live your life over again? Or make just that one decision to go left instead of right? To say yes instead of no, or no instead of yes?
Welcome to being human.
Our lives can be viewed through a series of different lenses at different stages.
While young, we are invincible. Nothing can harm us; after all, we have the rest of our life ahead of us, don't we? We only live once.
In our middle years if we find ourselves in a marriage or relationship and there are children or significant ex-others, our threshold of error has become less and we often made decisions based on fear instead of hope.
During our later years, our decisions are not based so much on what we want to do, but what we are able to do.
A friend of mine, who was 93 when he passed away, shared a significant piece of wisdom during one of our many conversations.
“The older I get, the faster and further I want to run,” said Tom Gill, longtime Lone Ranger artist and teacher.
To put this into perspective, he had recently returned from Paris where his grandson had just been married and went on a trip to Montana to see the Charlie Russell Museum. He lived with gusto, and experienced life to his last days.
As human beings, we can live with regrets, insecure in the knowledge that we could have saved more money, that we could have spent more time with our family and friends, knowing later we should have waited to take the second opportunity, or just lived life to its fullest.
The truth is, we live with the consequences of our decisions and actions for the rest of our lives, whether good or bad.
All we can do is try to consciously make good decisions every day of our life. There will be missteps, mishaps and mistakes along the way, but it is in those moments of self-reflection our character comes out and is polished by experience and grace.
In my relatively short life, I have learned seven basic lessons. They are:
Forgive freely, if we were perfect, we would not need erasers.
Praise often, a word of encouragement can motivate for a lifetime.
Laugh often, never take yourself too seriously.
Listen frequently, allow others to speak into your life
Seek wisdom with humility.
Set boundaries, know where you don't want to go before you get there.
Take time for others, there is only one moment like now, one time when you will be where you are, and one opportunity to express your appreciation for others.
We can never go back and relive our lives, righting the wrongs we did, but we can move on, one good decision at a time, one day at a time. Get up, brush yourself off, and move on.
Lastly, take the higher ground and live life on the path less travelled. Live life with an eternal perspective. Celebrate the accomplishments of those around you, whether great or small.
Your future is waiting.
