It seems that I have lost a year. Back in August of 2020, I embarked on a redevelopment of my site. With matters of Pandemic and College and Panda, things got delayed… and without getting into much detail, with the nearing launch of the new site and the delays along the way, we recently discovered that a year of blog posts on the site are gone. A year of posts on my own journey with Pandemic and the cancer and passing of #bestlittledogintheworld Panda… all gone.
Nothing since last August. All indeed gone.
Why do I offer this?
Upon realizing the reality, there was a deeper, higher sense of the power of Detachment. The immediate feelings were of loss. I felt them. Recognized them. Honored them. They were worthy of such. They were valid. These were posts that mattered to me. I listened to these feelings to understand the particular sense of loss… and they became teachers, if you will.
In the loss, I better understood what was indeed important.
What was important were the lessons from these months and not whether I could access the posts. What was important was the synthesis of that learning through posting.
What did I learn? I learned better what I love and miss of #bestlittledogintheworld and what she brought, as example to my life; and still does.
Panda was accepting, caring, courageous and generous. She was joyful, kind and loving and loyal. She was mindful and modest and noble. She was open and patient and purposeful and sincere. She was wondering and wise and so very much more. Indeed, and in deed, Panda manifested all of the virtues as and when needed, naturally. It was how she DO and BE.
These 118 strengths of character were her practice, when and where and however necessary. She was adept at same.
Panda was Panda. She is Panda. She sampled for me, without thinking, what and when and how it was like to live these virtues; these strengths of character, While I have been on my own journey of health and exploration and decision (including re-imagining work and website alike), I am more fully realizing that all of the lost posts mean the records are lost but the lessons are not. Certainly, I have still been recording thoughts on LinkedIn (just now without links to personal posts on site over the last year). Of late, I have posted on:
… and more. Those posts are not lost. And, it is not lost on me that what I have lost are “journal entries” on my site but not the learning from them. The minutia do not define the meaning. The motions do not define the mission. I have lost a year. But have I? I have lost the posts that recorded process but not the lessons from process. And, it is not unlike the shedding of old skin inasmuch as shedding such skin makes possible for the new skin to breathe.
In life, we lose sight of things. Our memories tend to keep hold of that which is somehow important while relegating other details to deeper spaces in memory. We lose things along the way. Sometimes on purpose, other times seemingly not.
But what if all losses of the minutia had purpose? What if it served to clear out the trees so that the forest can grow stronger? What if it is more of a pruning?
I see the “lost posts” now as leaves to last year’s tree. The tree was served by them to grow bigger and stronger this year. There are things, and projects and even people who will and need be somehow shed… not because they did not matter… but because they did … in allowing us to best grow and move forward.
In growth and movement, the old leaves are valued for what they did. New leaves are growing and are valued for what they will do. The year that was not is actually the year that served for my moving forward. In these times of change and challenge, I am thankful for Detachment. It does indeed lift me up, lighter and ready to ride whatever winds might blow. It serves us all thusly.
So, my thoughts this day are around how we can better recognize and Honor our feelings without succumbing to them, better choose to act than react, more effectively free ourselves from simple impulse, listen to our own selves to better understand what we are feeling, practice the Humility to let go and learn, and detach from the pulling of the world and lean in to the voice of our Soul. This is Detachment in practice. This is Emotional Intelligence at its highest; to be in but not of…
Detachment allows us to feel while understanding that our emotions are simply our horses and we still have the reins. We do not repress our horses. We harness them. Detachment allows us to saddle up, leaving behind what is no longer necessary, keeping what is, and freeing ourselves for the new and needed to come. The year that was not, actually was. Some of the records are gone. The lessons are not. But what I get to keep is both a product of what is lost and what I choose to lose. In the end, and throughout it all… Detachment lightens us to lift us. Travel lighter. Fly higher.
Peace, passion and prosperity…
Barry Lewis Green, The Unity Guy with Epic Engage.
“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. ― Abraham Lincoln