Day 15... Haiti

I had a great night's sleep. I woke up in a warm, wonderful bed. I had a great cup of coffee. How did your day start?

I read parts of the paper with my coffee. Glanced at the headlines about the tragedy in Haiti. I sent money to the World Aid Organization.

I exercised with my trainer. I am listening to the Buona Vista Social Club on my CD player.

I read the paper again - read the horror stories about Haiti, so very many. I feel like the contribution I made earlier today doesn't matter at all. I'm glad I did it, know it's important that I did, grateful I can, but it just feels so pitiful an attempt at "help" given the vastness of the destruction and pain.

It doesn't make sense. Well it does. I was born in a good place, at a good time. By virtue of that I don't have to suffer. I have the power to make choices. We may think everyone does - but when faced with the horrors of an earthquake, and the stifling poverty, we're not talking choices, we're talking survival. Sometimes not even that. I can't even imagine it. I really can't. I look at the pictures, I read the stories, I burst into tears. Yet here I sit, a million miles away from that suffering, I might as well be on another planet. Whatever tears I shed today for my fellow human beings, whatever compassion I feel for them, I hope it puts a dent in the karmic fabric of the world and provides some respite.

And everyone I know, every single person I know, friend, family, customer, colleague, none of us suffer like that. Be grateful. In this case it is not relative. So I am asking you, please, help however you can.

http://www.worldvision.ca/Pages/Home.aspx

Day 13... Little Blue Planet...

This morning ... this painfully early morning, I was heading off to a Board Meeting. It was about 7:00 am, which at this time of year I guess pretty much means sunrise. The sky on the eastern horizon was ablaze in an amazing pink. Hot pink clouds. What a spectacle it was. It got me to thinking of all the moments I have had where nature has shown me her best, where my little blue planet became so very precious to me. Of course, it always is, but how often do I stop in my day to contemplate my gratitude for the beauty that surrounds me. How often do you?

Sometimes I look out my back door (big window kind) after a snow storm and the big pine tree across the lane looks like it belongs on a post card.

I remember once, sitting on the rock at Winnetou Lake, in a lotus position (right? lotus? legs crossed like a yoga thing?) .. the sun was slightly to the right facing me. It was reflecting off the lake and I was surrounded by this amazing light. It was a spiritual moment. I'm not religious by any stretch of the imagination - but at that moment I felt I knew God.

Anywhere in the Rockies is always a moment next to God. I spent last Thanksgiving in Canmore, Alberta. It cured me of what I imagine was a depressive episode, or menopause, or burnout.. take your pick, I'm still not sure what was up. But those mountains fixed it! They take my breath away.

I love moments like that. Like this morning with it's pink fairy sky. It was breathtaking. It gives me a sense of being connected to something much greater, to something beautiful and meaningful.

I'm grateful for having had the privilege to experience it.