All We Have - The Current Moment.

"The only way to defeat darkness is to embrace the light.  

wwm, inspired by a quote by MLK."

One of my high school classmates died yesterday.  It was very sad to see a vibrant, active, beautiful, spirited, and accomplished person taken from us. She was one week past her 49th birthday, and from all accounts her passing was sudden.   Judy was way too young to be transitioning from this life to the next.  

For the people that knew her - a profound sense of loss, shock, and general disbelief is a seemingly pervasive feeling right now.  At the same time, many friends are celebrating what she was to them - a great friend, a talented journalist, and an amazing person.  Her life was focused on   telling the stories that matter - the news we live with every day.  Separately, Judy was a guru on stress who wanted to help people balance out their busy lives against the backdrop of daily work. She was a Yogi and a meditation teacher who was loved by many.    The world lost a true light with her passing.  

Personally, I find myself reflecting heavily here - feeling the loss harder than I likely should.  To be honest, I didn't know really Judy all that well.  Judy and I hung out a few times within larger crowds during high school.  I remember being with her among a group of kids just down the block   from my house on a number of occasions over one particular summer.  We likely had a few conversations together that I don't remember.  Since I was a year older, we didn't really have too   many opportunities to get to know each other that well.   

After 30 years we reconnected on Facebook, a fortunate circumstance enabled by technology.  Judy read some of my writing and over email we discussed a possibility in which I would pen a post on her website.  The topic...the impact that direct managers have on employee experiences of stress, meaning, and success.  I had not had a chance to write that post yet, but from this interaction, was able to witness Judy's dedication and commitment to the balance of work and life.  I also saw her understanding that this balance is more than these two elements, in a sense a larger component of our spiritual journey.   Her website was heavily focused on balance, her posts on Forbes were well read, and she seemed to understand that we as people are all more than just what we do.  The balance between real life and what we as our vocation is in itself an important goal, with the best outcome one that allows for connection to both.  Too much stress without relief, without meditation, without a periodic timeout is bad for us.  

In the last post on Judy's site, she was still teaching as she posted an article that was highly prophetic. It was about living in the present.  One never knows what is next, nor do we have control over anything other than this very moment.   If Judy's last post was any indication, one might think that her final message of love was as follows;   

"The moment is all we have.  It's where we live.  Many of us forget.  Some are only working for a future that may not be there.  Others may be lost, stuck in past glory, or trapped in tragedy.  Somany of us have given ourselves over to work, and to stress, and to attachment...A cycle that doesn't allow us to live full lives."

So what can this knowledge do for us?  Things might have best been summed up by my friend Jacqueline Hill in a Facebook post she wrote....


"As the night is coming to an end, I think all of us who knew Judy have been deeply saddened by her sudden death. Today seemed surreal and I felt such a sense of despair..........but just now I realized that Judy was a lover of life, she lived life to the fullest and she was constantly challenging herself to be a better person.  She was on a spiritual path that was leading her to wonderful places...........so maybe, just maybe, she has left us all with a lesson...........let Judy live on through each and everyone of us here on Facebook, let us NOT TAKE our lives for granted and grab each moment with Joy and Wonder and challenge ourselves to be the best person we can be. I have decided to honor her by doing just that. You are loved and you will be missed, but your life will not be in vain, that I can assure you. God bless you Judy."

So in the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr....

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. 

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

In the end, all we can do is understand that the moment is all we have.  And if we embrace the light and love in each moment, we will then be able to find that balance that Judy was talking about.   

Godspeed Judy.  Namaste.

wwm2014 

"On wind and light, we live forever."