A few months prior to my father dying, the day he died and months following, I believe I was given a gift, a reminder, of what it felt to be stripped down-bare, raw, unfiltered – my existence and purpose was clear and life around me was magnified. My eyes saw things it had not before, I had felt things I had not before; it was as if I was experiencing living and life around me for the first time. It consumed me, sending gentle soft reminders, calling me, and it continues to call me. It was like I had been under spell, and it was finally lifted.
There are so few, rare times, moments in my life that I have felt this way – most, if not all were connected to some form of loss, love or pure joy: loss of loved ones, loss of innocence, loss of time, falling in love, brining life into this world, deep laughter, seeing happiness, laughter, joy, kind acts of humanity and selflessness.
However, this loss, this experience, this time, it felt different – life changing. I know that I have forever been changed and the voices from life around me, beyond and inside me know there is more that needs to be done. It has given me the strength and courage to fight and stand up for what I may have known, believed, and felt all along. To me, it is living a life of meaning, of connection, and making it my goal to inspire, share my experiences, to maybe remind others of what they know deep down and feel as well. A Knowing in the heart, mind and soul, of the past, present, and beyond. A thread that exists and continues, that keeps us alive and in rhythm.
Life is precious and through my recent experiences I have been reminded that the world around us is talking to us. Maybe for some, maybe we have forgotten, or maybe we are scared to acknowledge since it may not fit into our current societal norms. For me, I realized that living in honor of our human potential and ability, it is where peace, hope, love and purpose lives. It is my goal to stay connected to this potential knowing it is where our humanness is at its best – its where I exist in relationship with others and the world around me. It is where we find each other in our unique differences and similarities. It is seeing beyond the here and now and the interconnectedness of life and its beauty – calling to be heard.
In my experience as I grew, I forgot my way, the meaning of life, my purpose within the greater existence of life. My focus was too much on the business of life – surviving, instead of living into my full human capabilities and potentials. For me, when I focus on just surviving, I lose the deep-innate connection with myself, the world around me, and I don’t see others and the world that is constantly reaching out, talking to us, trying to hold us, to be part of us.
My intention and goal is to create a place where we can show up and share our experiences of loss, joy, laughter; promoting and encouraging a world that maximizes its beauty and realizes our full potentials as humans – all of what comes with it, the good, the bad, the funny, the beautiful, the hard, the ugly and the unkown.
In our sharing, in hearing what may be forgotten, we remember, we re-connect with ourselves and with others, we learn and feel a deep obligation to give back more than we received – we see beyond the moment, beyond ourselves and we see maybe a way of living that we know can happen even if it is not currently aligned with how we are living. We embrace living over the rainbow. The place where anything is possible, where love, hope and peace live.
“to live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde