Always take the leap
I started wondering if other people have their own one true thing that keeps them believing in something more, hoping for something better than the verifiable facts of life. Where better to throw out this question than my community of more than 2,000 Facebook friends? So, I threw it out and here’s some of what came back.
There were some lovely, but not unexpected answers. These are my favorites:
1. God’s love
2. Love
3. We’re all connected
4. God is. (IMO, different than the first answer)
5. Life is short.
6. Unconditional love (IMO, different than #2.)
7. This is it.
8. Gratitude works.
Then there were the slightly unexpected:
1. The only thing that is permanent is change.
2. The only truth is “I don’t know.”
3. We are all stars⎯but not celebrities.
And the very unexpected.
1. We all eat, therefore we all poop.
2. If you eat a meatball each day for 100 years, you will live to be 100 years old⎯at least!
Okay, maybe there’s not just one true thing! But I do believe it helps to have one personal truth that keeps me from losing my faith and⎯maybe it doesn’t matter whether it’s about God or meatballs. What’s your one true thing?
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
My one true thing? The bell curve. ( yes, Delta=constant. Yes, we’re all connected. Yes, almost all of us poop most of the time. Yes, gratitude works, except in rare and usually inconsequential instances. Life is shorter for some than others. And just about everything depends on how you look at it.)
Mine comes off of a coffee mug I bought at Starbucks,
“My Journey Begins Today.” It reminds me that each day brings me new opportunities and direction.
The only person who can stop me is me.
Mine comes in the form of my Papa’s voice who, when life becomes really, really dificult, says “keep dancin’ darling.” His other favorite comment is “Grace and Courage.” Both have helped me through some gut-wrenching, life-changing events.
I like your Always Take The Leap. Today, when I was driving somewhere, I thought about your question. I guess my answer would be to quote Springsteen, “No retreat, no surrender.” That frequently comes to mind in difficult times and keeps me going. Now this does not really have to do with faith, in my opinion. If I were to expand on your question, I would have to refer to something I witnessed while homecaring my elderly mom. She was visited by the spirits of deceased friends and family and reported their visits to me. Apparently this is normal, prior to death, according to the hospice folks and happens to a lot of people, only they do not report it due to fear of ridicule. It really opened my eyes and now I look at the end of life in a totally different way.
How lovely to reflect on this. I’m not sure what my one mantra might be, though I am enjoying reading everyone else’s! Thought provoking. Since I am deep in the trenches of parenthood right now, with a new baby as well, I try to remind myself every day that the connections we form with other human beings – children as well as older people – are precious, that time is fleeting, that our love for one another is a gift to be grateful for.
This post made me think — and (surprisingly) laugh! I didn’t expect the “poop” part when I started reading! I love this blog and I’m so glad I found it. I’ll be back often.
This is far less uplifting, but it reminds me of what happened as our kids grew older — and I realized one of the most important lessons I could teach them was about dealing with failure. What we do after failure (which is inevitable) defines our lives. I still believe that.
I was struck by “The only truth is ‘I don’t know.’” Because I wear a t-shirt that says in Greek “The only thing I know is that I know nothing.” Socrates. So that is a thought with a long tail as we say these days.
My truth is that with each day we cross the day before off on the calendar, remember that that day is never to return. Make every day count so you don’t look back on it with regret or emptiness.
Hi Jen,
I’m not very religious but this post resonated with me. For one, it made me think of the book “One True Thing,” an incredible novel about caring for someone who is dying of cancer. They made it into a movie with Meryl Streep and Rene Zellwegger.
Anyway, my truth is that our purpose on earth is to love and be loved.
I loved the last two–just because they made me smile. My true things that I often tell myself over and over are:
1) Anything is possible (sometimes I add a “for me” or an “even this” at the end)
2. Everything always works out in the end
3. Rise above it
Jennifer, I liked reading this and liked thinking about it more…my one true thing. Do I know? Somedays it’s “Say Yes.” To remind me to stay open to life’s possibilities even when I’m afraid, or worn. Other times, I remind myself that “I am enough.” I don’t have to look different, act different, or achieve anything more to live well with life’s circumstances and to be a good and loving person.