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Today's
Meditation:
I
often use how I think I may feel in ten years as a
guide. If I have an opportunity to do something new
and different, will I regret not having done it?
Will I regret having played it safe and not having taken a
risk? And on my deathbed (assuming there will be
such a thing) will I regret not having done the new and
exciting and different and having settled for the safe and
convenient?
A
few years ago I weighed thirty pounds more than I do
now. When I thought of how I would feel twenty years
later, I realized that I would be facing many more health
problems due to being overweight than I would if I weren't
overweight, so I lost the extra pounds. It took
about eighteen months to get where I wanted, but now that
I'm there, I stay there. I would have been very
disappointed in the future if I hadn't lost that weight,
and now I won't face that disappointment in the years to
come.
We
had a friend in New England who wants desperately to move
to a warmer climate, but who isn't willing to take the
chance. . . . yet. We hope she will someday.
But because she won't take that chance, she'll never know
what she's missing by not living out her dream, by playing
it safe in her comfortable job in her comfortable
home. I have nothing against comfort, but it sure
can hold us back and hold us down when we fear losing it.
I
don't want to face disappointment later in life because I
was afraid to take a chance and sail into uncharted
waters. As I sail into those waters, I can add much
more learning to my life, many more experiences that
wouldn't be there otherwise. And those experiences
can help me grow into a new person, one who is able to
deal effectively with many more situations than the old
one.
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