I have been taking a lot of deep breaths lately and resetting.

My husband was terminated from his job August 24, along with four other colleagues — which also happens to be my Mom’s birthday, and we celebrated with her at dinner that night. [a great example of yin-yang, right?]

Was it a total surprise? No. His work had been slow… still the finality of it all, is a roller-coaster. My emotions have been everywhere this past week, angry, sad, nervous, anxious, and grateful. Yes, even grateful.

Grateful because I know with all my heart, something better will come along for him. A dear friend shed some light on our situation — a concept she had just heard from a presenter in a recent workshop. He said, “See problems as upgrades. Life is an UPGRADE, continuously look for where it is trying to gift that to you, as it often comes looking like a problem.” I love that idea of an upgrade!

On Saturday, a few days after my husband was laid-off, I found out that my long-time friend was going into surgery that day for a heart-transplant. Now, I knew she had challenges with her heart because she has had a chest-implant defibrillator for quite some time. But, a heart transplant and it was happening in a couple hours? My prayers and thoughts were with her all day as she went through a 8+ hour surgery.

Before she went into surgery — her biggest wish for all of us, was to send prayers and blessings to the donor and the donor’s family. My heart swelled with gratitude for it ALL, the gift of life, the gift of transition, and the pure magic of it all. Talk about an UPGRADE… she is doing great BTW, she texted us Tuesday at 6:30am — and is walking around her room.

Now, have I turned my anger into gratitude completely? No, I still ebb and flow through many emotions, but I do keep coming back to — the space of gratitude and joyously accepting my reality as it unfolds. For without these beliefs, I cannot move forward and find my way to peace — and isn’t that what we truly desire? I know I do.

I leave you today with this writing from the Taoist sage, Chuang Tzu, breathe it all in, ponder his words … may it resonate your Soul.

Apologies
If a man steps on a stranger’s foot
In the marketplace,
He makes a polite apology
And offers an explanation:
“This place is so crowded.”

If an elder brother
Steps on his younger brother’s foot
He says, “Sorry.”
And that is that.

If a parent steps on his child’s foot
Nothing is said at all.

The greatest politeness
Is free from all formality.
Perfect conduct is free of concern.
Perfect wisdom is unplanned.
Perfect love is without demonstrations.
Perfect sincerity offers no guarantee.