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Reaffirmation

Some time was spent trying to come up with right word for me for the year 2017. I finally got it. My word was “breath” or variations thereof. Breathing is the first thing we do coming into the world and the last thing we do leaving it. We do it continuously between the first and the last. So, an important word considering the reality it represents, the very breath of life. The practice of deep breathing has become critical for me as I develop ways to improve my health and my level of energy. Yoga, like Thai Chi, is helping immensely. My vision to be dancing to live band as I celebrate my 100th birthday depends on my capacity to breathe easily as I move across the dance floor holding my sweetheart, whispering sweet nothings without pause into her delicate, receptive ear.

This year, 2018, I have selected the word “reaffirmation” because I want to remind myself constantly throughout the year of the critical decisions I’ve made over the last five years that are still standing me in good stead. My first and most crucial reaffirmation is my commitment to the notion of unconditional love which I made in 2012 following the death of my wife of 61 years. I saw love then and see it now as a love without expectation. Unconditional love is pure love for love’s sake. I have discovered over the intervening years that, though difficult, the act of loving in this way becomes its own reward. The outcome does not determine its value.

 

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