rechelle's lifelyrics

I’m still learning things about life and how I act and react, even as I enter my 7th decade of life. There are some lessons I’ve learned or things I’ve come to realize, but I still feel like I’m climbing the mountain to have some of them ingrained into my being. This month, I’m sharing this list from a page I typed a few weeks ago:

1. Just because I offer an alternative way to view a situation, the hearer may not – and usually won’t – veer from their original perspective.
2. When someone seems distant, or annoyed, it is rarely because they are reacting to me or what I think is their concern. Most often people are in their own head about their insecurities or troubles, and it has nothing to do with me.
3. Many times I don’t know the whole story, so it is great wisdom to follow the Proverb, “swift to hear and slow to speak.”
4. When I think I’m being patient, say a prayer and endeavor to wait much longer with hope and love in my heart. “In your patience possess ye your souls.”
5. Most problems are not mine to solve. Recognize the feeling of panic in my heart, and seek for that quiet place of peace inside instead of fretting for naught.

It seems there are always more things to consider and work on – even at age 60. I’m choosing to be grateful that I can still learn and grow instead of being frustrated with myself for not being more, doing more, or understanding more. I still remember how in awe I was at people around me who were older, and seemingly more put together, especially in the years I was so busy raising our kids. It occurs to me now that those people had plenty of things within their own lives they were working on, and that all of us are on a journey one day at a time. It brings to mind the picture Dickens painted with the words, “…when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.” I hope I’ll remember what I so often forget, and manifest my learning through more skill as the days continue to fly.