Remembrance

Autumn brings the fall of leaves, and the descent into the darker days and longer nights. A time to look inward, to prepare for the fallow time after the harvest.

Leaves fall. It is the way nature works. The tree has fulfilled its purpose and now must plant seeds for renewal and growth. We are no different. There is a cycle to life that follows its own course although unlike a tree that works through a yearly cycle, we do not know how long that cycle will last.

We spend our lives chasing the dream. Chasing money or fame. Chasing after the material things we believe we need for life to be successful, or worse than that – to be happy. We need to support ourselves; we need to have dreams, we need to have goals but not to the degree that we lose ourselves in those pursuits and forget about relaxation, time spent in nature and most importantly developing and nurturing relationships.

Conduct your life in a way that aligns with how you hope to be remembered.  I have been reading heartfelt tributes for a man whose years on this earth touched many of the young minds that he taught over a lifetime career and each one is a ringing endorsement of his wisdom, his empathy, his intelligence, his character, his sense of humour and his encouragement of their efforts – the possibilities that were in the path of their futures.  They referred to him as “a legend” and he was. They may have been in his classroom for one year. He might have coached or tutored them. But they have all remembered this man fondly as he was and how he connected with them and share a deep sadness that his time on this earth has come to its final curtain.

We have one life. No matter how long or how short it is to be. It is a gift. Unwrap it carefully and then go and spend it wisely.