Step by Step

"The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."- Mark Twain



On some mornings it's harder to get started than on others. And sometimes its those hard to start days that end up taking off and being the best or so I tell myself.

My cat Rosie woke me nice and early today. Thanks Rosie. ( She takes her duties very seriously some days, one of which is to ensure I am up and at it before 6am! ) so I took myself out for a walk in the coolness of the day knowing the pleasant temperature wont last here in Montrose, California for very long.

I became aware very quickly on my walk of two things - that a new local free paper was being distributed, they were everywhere, and that it was 9/11. Eight years since the twin towers collapsed and changed our lives forever on so many levels. Although my life was not directly impacted by the loss of a loved one I spent a few moments with those who had as I walked the pavements of my neighborhood. The grief and transformation the losses wrought on their everyday lives will be brought to the rest of us today so we might remember the preciousness of those lost and those that remain. I am reminded to not waste a day.

As I looked at the newspaper I picked up I am struck by the courage and faith of the people responsible for putting it out there. Flagging economy or no, they are going out on a limb to fulfil a need they see in our community. Life and hope springs eternal.

I think of the cycle of destruction and renewal and how it never stops, it can't as long as there is life. So to you and to myself I say go forward, one small task at a time and know the preciousness of today. Allow the evolution of that life work its way through you in whatever stage it appears, as destruction and loss or renewal and new beginnings. You cannot hold back the cycle of life.