So, a year ago today I wrote a post called “Letting Go“…

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year, in some ways - in others it seems like a lifetime ago. I can still feel what I felt back then - I can feel it in seconds, if I choose to. Lately, I have been just not choosing to…

They say that if you drive for very long staring into the rear-view mirror, you’ll end up in a head-on collision. That’s true when it comes to the pain of the past, as well. You can glance in the mirror, occasionally, but you can’t let it distract you from what’s coming up ahead.

In so many ways letting go, for me, is a constant process - a constant discipline of the will. I’ve had to discover and develop a whole new set of boundaries in which the approval of others gets only a fleeting nod…not my full attention. It’s hard to not care what others say about you…to not stick your finger in the wind to see how it blows: for you or against.

But, there’s real freedom in some losses…

So, today, the lessons of the past will get a fleeting glance from me…just a glance - an acknowledgement of whatever I learned by experiencing and embracing my losses. Just a glance - a brief remembrance, and nothing more.

Because the pain is not what has shaped me - but the working through it…and the letting go.

A year ago I wrote, “My heart is broken, but my spirit is free…”. It’s still true today that there are things that break my heart, but still allow for greater freedom …freedom from my past and all of the things I’ve had to let go.

There’s a reason why the rear-view mirror is so much smaller than the windshield…

Peace.