Touching moments...reflecting what we feel good about doing with our lives....

(Click on the title of this post to read the entire post.)

Bill's memorial...
Maria Shriver's life's work, for which she is being recognized...
And the meaningful moments of a person's life when they see that what was meaningful to them was actualized into the reality of their lives.

We talk of purpose and meaning, but here is where theory and nice thoughts actually become reality.

Bill is a man I admire for a number of things.  Though he couldn't control how long his life would be, he did control how his life would be - he made it a great one, full of family, love, being a man you could rely on, being a man of results and kept promises, his mountain cabin, love of fishing, great hosting of get togethers, extracting the joy of life from life, always with integrity... Touching stories, and some funny ones, relayed by people whose lives he has touched in a more than surfacey way...  My experience of him, confirmed by many others, was that he always had a hand out for everyone (he held his hand out to shake yours, or to reach out "spiritually" in a way that connected), he welcomed everyone and fully accepted who they were (you could "feel" it) as they were (not as they "should" be)...  And he provided a great model of living life (and of integrity)....

Then Maria Shriver, regardless of which political beliefs one embraces, is speaking at the Alzheimer's conference recently, as written in her blog, relates her experience (wherein a particular phrase struck me with very strong, intensely "gotcha" emotion):

"My brother Timmy, who was there with me and my two daughters, Katherine and Christina, will tell you that I'm not much of a hugger. But something in me shifted that night as I embraced the hugs of total strangers. I felt myself softening. I felt myself feeling the gratitude of others. I felt safe. I felt a connection that moved my heart. I felt it so much that when I stood up to accept the award and thank my family, I cried. (OMG.)

I cried because in that moment, I felt so much love. It just took me aback.

I took a deep breath and looked out at a room of people whose lives were hard, but who stepped forward to let me know that my work and my efforts mattered.

I felt their love and I realized that I needed their care and their validation. Because no matter who we are, or what family we were born into, we are all human beings who need love. We’re all people who need care, who need a hug, and who want to know that what we are doing matters."

That speaks for itself, methinks.  

One might want to copy and highlight (or at least mentally highlight) the meaningful phrases in these... 

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Perhaps these might be good for leading into a moment of reflection on how we all might want to live our lives...and perhaps on how we can MAKE life meaningful and how we can drop the wasting of life on the unmeaningful, low value pastimes and tasks we all can get, unthinkingly, swept up in.