Changes in our lives are often described as bridges. We straddle them, we fall through, we run across, and hang ten. And sometimes, we just take our time and let our journey guide us over the bridge. We bridge our relationships; we bridge our professional lives; we bridge our personal lives and we bridge our identity. Life is a constant journey, and the paths we travel have bridges. They bring us from where we are to where we need to be.
Over the past few weeks, what I have learned is that the suspension branches in my bridge are the individuals in my life. They support us by holding us up, sometimes cement pilings, other times steel suspension. And at times, it is not always the individuals I know, however, the individuals I have encountered in a store, event or place that have held me up. The past few weeks have been some of the most humbling, profound times in my life. And all of this because of the journey I began a year ago.
A year ago I thought, I would write a note of gratitude and mail it. I thought, if some chose to share this journey by writing a note to someone, then lives are changed, even if in a small way. And many did. They shared who they wrote the note to, what they were thankful for and some even “borrowed” my idea.
However, what I didn’t expect to happen, and that is why it is all the more meaningful, is to have individuals share how I touched their life. I began this experiment expecting nothing, yet receiving everything . . . and, my bridge to the future.
Recently, many asked when I would finish my book. My post about having an aching heart instead of a broken heart was called “profound.” I have received several emails and notes which express what a difference my blog made in their life because they didn’t realize what a difference they made in my life. We are strangers, yet we are one.
We support and promote the common good and essence of one another, yet we have never met.
I share this with you because of the difference this has made in my life. I always wrote thank you notes for the gifts I received; my children were never permitted to play with a toy or spend the money they received as gifts until I had the written thank you note in hand. But this experiment in gratitude is not about material things. It is about the abstract, the things we cannot touch, but we always feel. And I am humbled by the response.
A wise person once told me that humbleness and humility is not about doing things that go unnoticed. She told me that humbleness is making a difference without arrogance, however in order to make a difference, you need to permeate the world you are part of and make the needs known. I always thought that being a wallflower, going unnoticed was the ultimate in humility and humbleness. Today I realize that it is sharing that is the ultimate opportunity for our humility. It promotes humility in self and it promotes humility in others.
And so today I am a bit more humble, a bit more in awe of those around me. Others made the difference in my life and I shared it with them. This expression made the difference in their life and once again in mine. It grows, it fills our essence, it leaves us in awe.
The support, the suspension on my bridge is each of you who continue to encourage me to go forward with my endeavor. You fill my pen with ink, my paper with words of experience.
I encourage you to share the difference others make in your life.
In awe of each of you, with peace, gratitude, light, love and blessings,
Joyce
