Follow your heart

I was thinking today, thinking about our life, our minute we are here. It is our time to take it all in and see what we think. Our world according to where we have been and what we have seen along the way. Each owns perception of what is real and true, if only to us. I am finding we all believe our views are the right ones depending on our life’s course being played out. I had quite the day today… I am quitting my job… Following my heart, and stepping out in faith which sounds amazing and brave but when reality sets in and you are peering over the edge of uncertainty, you can’t help but think… wow, really?

As I was talking with my amazing brother tonight, I shared with him that as my life is changing, moving in a different direction than I would have thought, I can’t help but think that as I make my decisions, as much as I feel I am where I am supposed to be, I still struggle with not wanting to let people down. At work I don’t want to make things harder for others, and I have tried to avoid people being displeased with me. He listened. Then he said this, which I am finding to be oh so true. “You’re not letting anyone down Melissa; you are following your heart and being true to yourself, which is more important than what anyone thinks about you or your decisions.”

I thought about the words he spoke during our conversation, a statement that is simple yet complicated. How many times in our life have we altered what we would have done, gone a different route because we didn’t want to let someone down, or we thought we owed someone or some company our time and energy. I am finally seeing that our time here is more precious than any paycheck or title. Our journeys have been laid out for us, we all have talents to use up and lives that are alive with possibilities trimmed with opportunities that open up every minute. My hope moving into another chapter is that I will remember daily that our time here and differences we can make in that time, is far more important than having a high paying job or a title that we want to help prove our worth.

As short as our time is here, it can be longer and fuller than what we have now. We spend countless moments of our day, our time and energy on things that don’t matter. What would it be like if we spent that time making a difference, helping someone who needs it, changing someone’s life? Even more so than setting out to change the world, if we even just spent less time talking about another person, tearing them down and pointing out their faults and more time looking at our souls that need nourishment from our God and our bodies that need sunshine and food grown from our Earth. If we turn off our TV’s, move into the country, and maybe eat a lot of peaches as John Prine puts it oh so well… (That was for you baby) then life may seem just a little less complicated, weighed down with idle talk and silly worries.

If we are conscious of this, make an active effort to remember to steer clear of buying into what society says to be true, then things just might make a little more sense. Our minds could be a little less clouded with a skewed perception of a fake world that is lined with malls and starbucks. It is usually blatantly obvious and embarrassingly absurd how much of our energy is spent on frivolous matters. Our energies a bit less focused on gossip or negative blather will help our souls to feed on all the optimistic hope we can have in what we all are here for and what we can gain during our journey.

I am thankful today as I sit here snuggled into my couch, thankful to be moving forward. As I am also hesitant of the unknown, I am going to be content in the moment of now and thankful for the thoughts of today.