Everything That Matters

"Everything we do and say matters" 

I am not sure where I have heard this before but I have been using it ever since I heard it.  What we acknowledge when we say this to our spirit and our soul is that we matter.  What we do in life matters, like the love we give our children and the kindness we share with an elderly or sick person.  It does matter and not only does it matter, it makes a difference in the world, we make a difference in the world.  It is through our words and deeds that we make a difference in other's lives, whether they are in our family circle or they are strangers we extend a smile to.  There is value in the things we say and do and it does matter how we say and do them.  When we shine our light and love on others it matters.  When we sit in a pew in church and pray it matters.  When we make time to be silent inside it makes a difference.  When we focus on world peace it makes all the difference.  What we think, what we do and what we say matters.  How we do things, share things and what we think about will be what will drive and influence the state of the world.  Everything matters.

As I sit here in a hospital today with a dear friend I find myself staring at her while she sleeps.  I begin to float away in my thoughts, admiring her face and knowing that inside that body is a person I love.  Her battle becomes my battle because our battles are all the same.  Her pain becomes my pain because for me her pain matters.  Her gentle and beautiful spirit motivates me because we are after all, connected, as all of us are.  My heart connects to hers because what matters is love.  Everything I think about matters and will eventually have an impact on her as someone I love who is struggling with a terminal illness.  Nothing else is more important than what I do for her in this moment and everything I do and say will matter to her.  I for one will select my words carefully because what I say and how truly does matter.

We must be in our awareness as we walk through life.  We must not wander through it but rather walk with purpose in our step.  If we fail to walk with purpose we can and will easily trip and fall in life.  It is good to know our intention and our purpose and that what we do impacts others around us.  For this reason we must do what is aligned with love and with compassion.  Everything we do with love and care matters ever more.  When we signed up for life we agreed to breath through the good and the bad.  We must know that the way that others treat life matters as much as it matters that we treat others kindly and with respect.  Everything we do is important to some degree, even the most mundane things like taking a nice hot bath and lighting candles in our home when we are feeling as though we need some soft light in our surroundings.  Our life matters, our children matter, our friends matter and our life matters.  Tending to the things that matter is what is essential to living a life that is intended to be lived with soul and laughter.

When I was diagnosed with cancer I was frankly shocked.  I had quit smoking for almost ten years prior to that and had beat a mild form of it the first time around.  Now I was being told that it came back and this time with a vengeance.  I decided to go to a facility in California called the Optimum Health Institute.  My intention was to stay there for three months and hopefully with raw foods and wheatgrass and prayer I would get better.  I had good intentions but as it turned out I ended up in the hospital because I bled so much I ended up needing a transfusion.  For the first time in my life I received blood under circumstances that were likely to become fatal had I not done so.  It cut me to the core but I could still not wrap my mind around an operation that would leave me with a colostomy bag on my abdomen and the rerouting of my intestines.  My heart and mind simply was not ready at first, but I was forced into it and finally conceded.  What I decided mattered and I am grateful that I made that decision for myself based on my own self-loving.  Everything I did mattered and this was for me a hard decision but one that yielded me life.

We must know that we matter first and at the front of the line.  We must know that our thoughts, desires and feelings matter.  We must also know that others matter and that we are not alone in te world at large.  We must understand that we are connected to one another and that this connection doe matter and does make an impact.  We must know that what matters is what we believe matters and that in the long run nothing matters as long as we think it and that everything matters because we know it.

Pleaase take the time to check in with yourself and those who you love and surround yourself with to make sure to do what matters.