I’m feeling that lately I’ve been on a little writing kick talking about how important every moment is, and I can tell you that this message will be along the same lines as that thought. I really do believe that every moment is so important, and the more I think about it and ponder where I have been in the past number of years, and often kick myself just to realize that I’m still here trucking along, I have to say that I wish I could help you all appreciate today as much as I do.
The truth is I’m sure there are many of you who do appreciate today as much or more than I do, and it isn’t a contest. Another reality is that I really write about loving life because I do, and it makes me feel great to tell you about it.
I went out for a walk tonight, in the crappy rain and fog, a terrible night right!?! No I can’t let you away with that, it was awesome out, quiet and calm walking around the pond… I’m looking for the words to help me describe what I’m feeling… not very often I struggle like this for words but here I am… struggling.
Let’s try this… every so often I have a flashback to a time when I was struggling in a different way, sometimes it’s when I had a really tough infection like last summer, another time it might be when I was in Ottawa and really really wanting to be home, tonight I was triggered back to my summer sleep of 1999 when I was in ICU. I think of that one a lot, partly because it is still such a great source of wonder for me. I wonder about it because I have no memory of the experience, and very little memory of the time immediately before and after. I also wonder about it because from so many accounts I wasn’t ever supposed to leave that ICU, I wasn’t supposed to wake, I wasn’t supposed to breathe again on my own. Less than a 2% chance I’ve been told.
For some reason, or for a whole collection of reasons, I did wake, breathe on my own and leave the ICU, and since then I’ve done a whole bunch of other things that it appeared I would never do. We only fully have now, this minute, which is very probably why I’m in love with it so much. And one of my favourite things on that list of things that it appeared I would never do is tell you all how much I love today, right now.
There are a ton of things that I love to do, lots of them I have loved for a long time… love live rock concerts, they are one of my favourite things, love being stupid with my buddies, love crazy comedies, love Signal Hill, love writing what I call “super free verse” poems which I will do in a minute, all of those things I have loved for a long time. Other things are relatively new loves… love writing emails to a bunch of people to share my experiences and perspective, love speaking to groups about my Cancer Challenges, love being able to touch my toes thanks to yoga every day, love the colour yellow.
I have loves that are related to work, and others more aligned with play, and I have committed myself to making them a part of my life. I can’t think of any better commitment to make than to do the things you love for work and for play. We all have different loves, and we will all mix them in our lives differently. I want to encourage you to find your balance of work and play loves and commit yourself to them. I encourage you to use your life and each moment in it.
Someone told me that “if your heart is in your dream no request is too extreme” and I happen to believe that theory applies and holds to all areas of life.
Always…
Live Life. Love Life.
Geoff
