Love Yourself, Your Family and Friends

When I want to gain some perspective on life, I go to the beach. On the Pacific coast, not far from Seattle, are beaches where you can walk for miles and miles. It is hard for me to feel over important when I think about that beach. It has been there so long, and will remain long after I am gone.

original photo

Every grain of that sand had it's own journey. It originated hundreds of miles inland, in Eastern Washington. They were dislodged from the earth by rain and wind and snow, and were swept into small streams that joined to larger streams, and eventually into the Columbia river. They tumbled down stream to the Pacific Ocean where the currents curl around to the North and eventually, after thousands of years of journey, carried them to that beach where I walk. Imagine that... untold trillions of grains of sand, each traveling for many thousands of years to reach that one place.

100,000 years from now, those grains of sand, and more, will still be at the beach... waiting, perhaps, for some other person on their existential walk. By that distant time our lives will be long forgotten... but still, gathered together, we create a beach of sorts, a beach of blessings that can reach into the future long after our individual memory is gone. A trillion grains of sand can be significant, even more significant can be the small efforts of many people.

Be the best you can be. Leave each day a little better than you found it. Smile at a stranger. Pick up a piece of garbage and throw it away. Love yourself. Tell your family and friends that you love them. If you feel inspired, take a small part of your abundance and improve the life of a child or a single mom in some far away land.

If the good people are as many as the grains of sand on that beach, it will be enough.