Your Best Version of You…
I recently bought t-shirts for myself and my four nieces that read, visualize the best version of yourself and be that
When are you, your best version?
Is it when you get together
With the family
Friends
Church
Just being around each other having coffee or a cocktail
Is it during the holidays, even if it’s with the people that drive you crazy
They can make you better because you see, how not to be
What you can do, differently
We gather because we need each other
We learn from stories and from time together
Even when there is dissension and difference of opinions
Politics have polarized us and plagued our ability to hear one another
What do we really need
What do we really want
What’s important
Is it to be right
Or
Is it to be happy
My brother has told me my whole life that,” I can be a meaningful specific or a wandering generality”
How does that show up for you
What can you let go of
Not say
What can you do to heal a divide
Make something softer for another
Safer for another
We all have control over ourselves
Our infliction
Our tone
Our temper
Out timing
I’m guilty as hell about being a bull in a china cabinet around issues
Running my mouth instead of listening
We have all been there
But, do we need to go back and do it again
No
No, because we are better than that
We’ve grown since then
Isn’t everyone feeling exhausted from all this tension in the air
On the news
With our families and friends that voted differently than us
We can do better
We can be better
We all have a limited time here
No one knows when the last day is
No one knows it’s the last hug, until it is
No one knows when you won’t get another chance
When it becomes impossible to make amends
Why risk that kind of regret
Why not, just let it go
Can you feel yourself relax at this suggestion
The choice is yours
Collectively
Communally
We can make a decision to be better than before
To not be combative
When you hear a widow like, Vanessa Bryant talk about the love of her husband, that’s lost forever,
we feel like civility can be possible as we collectively help her grieve
When you hear competitors talk about their relationship with Kobe, off the court,
it does seem like collectively we can respect each other
We need to remind ourselves we get this one life
This one chance
To make a difference
To bow our head in gratitude for another day
And to visualize the best version of yourself and go be that