Thursday, January 25, 2007

Ya gotta have friends...

Long ago in another life, a friend gave me a little framed quote done in scherenschnitte: Friends give joy and divide sorrow. It's moved with me for years, sometimes displayed on a little stand, sometimes on the wall. It reminds me of that friend, of that time in my life (plus the craft itself is remarkable).

I feel truly replete with the friendships I've found here -- very blessed with friends. I'm not quite sure how it happened, except I know you have to be a friend to find a friend. But we were talking the other night about all the activities we're doing with neighbors and friends, and how wonderful that feels! It was one of the reasons we changed our lives four years ago: we wanted more than going to work, coming home, doing chores, watching a little TV, and repeating that pattern -- there was just no time for anything else.

So we visualized that, along with some other things. Another friend, knowing what we were trying to do, gave us It Works! It is a short little book that focuses on asking very specifically for what you want and then visualizing that every day. I suppose it's a very simplistic approach to visualizing, but it helped us tremendously. And the goals we visualized have all happened.

I think that when you actively visualize an outcome, you also unconsciously align your energy and your actions to make it happen. More than 10 years ago, I began to realize that I needed to make some changes in my life -- big ones -- because I knew that when I was at the end of my life I didn't want to look back and say "I wonder what would have happened if..." I was no longer willing to settle, to allow life to happen to me instead of actively working to make the life I wanted. An Internet buddy told me, after listening to me talk yet again about wanting to change, "Then make it happen, sister." And I did.

Right now I'm working on new goals --especially for business -- and always giving thanks for those we have attained and continue to cherish. It is a blessing to start the day walking with friends, to exchange e-mails or phone calls with faraway friends, to share a cup of tea with friends, and to have fun going places and doing things with friends. To share joy, to divide sorrow.

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