Day 284

 December 19, 2020

A December to remember. Well, more like a year to remember. Nearly all of the year 2020 has been marred by the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent pandemic which has handcuffed the world and now taken over 1.6 million lives. As we grow closer to the end of the year we are inclined to reflect on the recent past and even sometimes the station that is our current life.  If you are alive and reading this, then in one way, it is a wonderful life. 

The iconic holiday film "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed and my favorite film noir femme fatale, Gloria Graham tells the story of all of us as we exist though the trials and triumphs of our lives. The film, produced in 1946, was initially a flop and when its copyright was not renewed it was broadcast for free and began airing frequently during the last few weeks of the year and thus became a holiday tradition. (NBC owns its rights and airs it every Christmas eve)

Jimmy Stewart was a WWII fighter pilot in the Army Air Corps and flew some 20 combat missions. Upon his return to Hollywood It's a Wonderful Life was his first film and since he was still grappling with the traumatic experiences of war and feeling of loss fellow pilots his emotional scenes where his character, George Baily, is breaking down and crying are all very real. 

The movie is about loss and pain and everyday failure and how many humans sometimes feel like they are at the "end of their rope". George Bailey turns to prayer and the answer to his prayer is an angel named Clarence who goes on to show George how wonderful his life really is even amidst the struggles and setbacks he has endured. As we all reflect on our lives, particularly this past year and how the pandemic has shaped and misshaped our living, consider all the wonderfulness in your life.

Beginning with life itself. Each and every day is a new opportunity to see, act and hope. 

See all the beauty life has to offer you, beyond the seasonal lights, there is natural beauty (like last nights moon) and imperfect beauty (the human body and its intricate workings).

Act in a way that manifests your deepest desires for love, joy and self-worth and then act as if every human you interact with is someone of value. This mortal life is fleeting and frail and we must not forget our time on this earth is limited. Cherish yours and the lives of others.

Hope for all of your wishes and keep hoping (and praying-if you are disposed to do so).

Never let the light go out on your dreams. 

Even beyond this life. Your memory will live on in others. 

Take this time to recall those souls which touched us and moved us in ways we will never forget. 

The dearly departed are with us still in our heart of hearts.

Loved and preserved. 

For the eternity of our lives they live on.

And let us recall the people, we may not know, but we are linked with indelibly everyday as we proceed through these challenging times. The essential workers. Those in day care and nursing homes. Those doctors and nurses caring for our brothers and sister struck with COVID-19. The grocery store workers and all those who continue to supply us with our daily needs. They are amazing humans doing what it takes for all of us to see this through.

May this years end bring you joy and tears and hope 

in a way that inspires you to endure and be more human than you ever thought possible. 

To care and love and cry.

To live and love and laugh.

To be alive.

Day 186

 September 12, 2020

Quote by Jack Kerouac: “Be in love with your life. Every minute of it.”

Living life is loving life. The want, the passion, the thrill and the simplicity of it. Going through the every day chores and monotony is not living, it is just the part of existence that is required in order for us to truly enjoy living life in the ways that bring joy, excitement and anticipation to our soul. 

To be honest the last several months since the pandemic was declared and we were given stay at home orders, travel bans were in effect, social distance was suggested and all the fun was taken from us we have had to get creative. Humans designed their own versions of fun living. There were so may amazing people sharing their talents with the world. One of my favorites was Sophie Ellis-Bextor and her kitchen disco!

Here she is in all her glamour with her lovely voice singing pop songs and classics from her kitchen. 

Kitchen Disco Episode 3

Yet even now after all these months and many people are back to work in some way. The novelty of creating our own fun has lost its appeal. We want to go see live music and live sports and visit the art museums and movie theaters. We miss the trips to the library and our favorite cozy coffee shop or book store. This pandemic is wearing on us, but we must persevere. That is what we do as humans. The struggle has always been real. The triumph over tragedy is a human way of life. To press on. To continue to strive to live you best life. (or your okayest life as I saw on a tee shirt recently).

It is now our charge to find the living within the life mundane. The quiet moments when you are reading.  The love moments when you are looking into the eyes of your significant other, the one person in life that gives you great joy. The subtle moments on a walk when you are in touch with the world.

The exuberant moment when you complete a workout and you are breathing deeply and your muscles ache.  The simplest moment of lying in your bed knowing who you are and what you want.

The artist Keith Harring struggled much of his life with this quandary as I imagine many people do both young and old. Truth be told it is not an easy answer to find. Harring, when he was 19, wrote in his journal, "I don’t know what I want or how to get it. I act like I know what I want, and I appear to be going after it — fast, but I don’t, when it comes down to it, even know.

He eventually found it through art. The creation of art for other people brought him the joy that enabled him to find love of life and love of self. By the end of his life he was able to accept it all, the life, the pain, the death, the embodiment of existence. Harring found success and despair during the eighties, a decade of time in which he became a known to the world as a talent, but also saw AIDS take the lives of many of his friends and eventually his life as well. Near the end he accepted the fragility of life and the mystery of life to a degree which resonates with Albert Camus’s insistence that “there is no love of life without despair of life.”

Through our lives it is up to us, the individual to seek and find our path to love through despair. Life is fleeting and fragile and thin. It is there for a time in which we do not know the length. A short poem, a long novel, a short film and episodic series, a postcard, a mural. A life few will see or the world will know. No matter. Your life is yours and it will never be repeated or replaced. Each of us has the unique ability to life and love. And we never really know ourselves because we are always seen through the eyes of others. We are made up of the perspectives and opinions of those we meet and impact.

How will you leave your soul stamp on others? How will you be seen and remembered? 

Embrace life and share it so others may see you as you have never seen yourself.