Reality

Evelyn: My picture is hardly inspirational, in fact it is boring, however it was the message itself that got my "intention" and sent me into a whirlwind of thoughts about reality. It was the writing that fueled my photo today, not the other way around. I had just finished lecturing to my students that our beliefs determine our reality, that we CHOOSE our reality daily, every moment. That somehow we are deluded to believe that fun, or happiness, can be found "somewhere" other than ourselves. That our health, our sense of worthiness, our belief in love, are all feelings attained by what others provide, but ultimately reality is what we make it, and knowing myself above all else determines what my world looks like. I have noticed my natural joy at connecting with others, not for what they give me, but for what it inspires in me, in recognizing myself in them, in seeing myself and my own feelings, honestly, openly... and finding that the more I love myself, the more love I feel for the world... the more the world loves me...

Monica: I've been thinking about death, probably sparked by my two recent visits to the cemetery. I've been thinking about how it's the ultimate loss of any semblance of control we think we have, a reality that can't be escaped. At the thrift store today, I saw Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking and reflexively picked it up and bought it. The back cover reads: 

Life changes fast.

Life changes in the instant.

You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.

All of us have these moments in our lives, where life as we know it ends. There are other deaths besides literal ones, and somehow, we manage to get through them. I know I am lucky to have come this far in life with no devastating losses. I know that one day this will no longer be true. Then I hope I remember to remember that even this, this too shall pass.