Day 9

More mantras for the New Year from Steve McSwain. I have underlined the words that mean something to me.

The 3rd Mantra:

3. I will practice forgiveness, starting with myself.

Recently, an obituary in the newspaper referred to the deceased as a person who "lived with no regrets." For me, however, I could not imagine such a life. I have many regrets. Today, I'm 55. I regret not having taken better care of my health. I wish I had quit smoking sooner. Exercising longer. Eating healthier. Spending more time, or better quality time, and attention with my children. I have other regrets that are too personal to share with you or anyone else. Sometimes, the regrets become overwhelming. So, I have to practice the art of forgiving myself. What you do to yourself, you do to others. What you do to others, you will also do to yourself. These two sentences alone are enough to meditate upon this entire day. If you cannot forgive others, let that be a clue there's something in you that you haven't forgiven. Mark Twain once said, "Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet shed on the heel that crushed it." Words have never been more beautiful.

Today was cold but clear. We both got a late start on the day. We worked on more packing of the office. Then we drove up to the Yuppy Puppy and picked up some boxes from Aquila. Then we just drove around looking at different areas of town where we might want to start looking for a place to lease or rent. I am favoring Browne's Addition and Michael is still sitting on the fence. It was getting dark and way colder, so we headed for home. All in all a nice day.