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“Life is empty and meaningless.”

I bet that line stung a bit for a few of you, “What do you mean ‘Life is empty and meaningless?’…then what is the purpose of life?”

Good question, because I ask myself that question all the time. After I ponder it for a while, I am always brought back to that saying I learned during a course at Landmark Education some ten odd years ago.

When I heard that saying for the first time it stung me a bit too. I mean, who were these people to say such things, but then I got it. If life is empty, that means I can fill it how ever I see fit, and if it’s meaningless, then I have the power to give what ever meaning I want to things.

 

I spent the day Sunday cleaning out my parent’s house. Both of my parents are gone now and as executor of my parent’s estate it is my job to sell the house and divide it amongst their children according to their will.

As I rummaged through my parent things, their most personal stuff, I couldn’t help but feel like I was erasing their lives. What they may have held as treasures, I was tossing in garbage bags, to be thrown into a landfill or donated to good will.

A favorite shirt or their most comfortable pair of jeans, donated. We took pictures off the wall and tossed away photographs of people we never met or did not know. We packed up CD collections and books from the bookshelf. Donate, donate, garbage.

That house was literally built from the ground up by my father’s hands. The garden in the back that is now over grown with weeds and done bearing fruit was one of my mother’s greatest passions. Gone.

Back to the earth it all goes… whether in a landfill or a gravesite. It all goes back to the earth.

All their hard work of harvesting, sowing and collecting divided up amongst those who are still living.

Clearing away my parent’s things made me want to reevaluate ‘my things.’ It made me want to have even less, if that’s even possible. I took a hat of my fathers and a crystal of my mothers.

The hat reminded me of my dad, since he was always wearing one. The crystal, because it use to catch the sunlight and spray tiny little rainbows all over the house when I was a child. I remember trying to hold them in my hands with my mother…

I have their memories. I can remember the softness of my mother’s hands when she would stroke the top of my head to sooth me. I remember the sternness of my father’s voice, as he demanded independence from me. My father toughened me up, while my mother kept me gentle.

I suppose the best we can do with our lives is enjoy each day. Be grateful for our loved ones and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

We should practice having less and doing more. Get busy on making memories while forgetting our regrets.

Spend more time looking at the sky and less at our televisions.

We should forgive, love and embrace all those around us, all the while worrying less, stressing less and smiling more.

Because in the end someone will be rooting through your underwear drawer, debating whether to donate or trash your panties, and chances are – it will be your child. All the things you treasured most will be given away, because none of it means anything. They’re just things that can be replaced, stolen or lost.

The only things left will be our memories and with time, even those will get lost too.

Write back soon, Love Annie

Day 75 of 90 meditating.

Ps. As requested, I will now be adding the audio of each blog at the top of the each post for those of you who prefer to be read to. For those of you who still prefer the sound of your own voice, just bypass the play button! I hope you enjoy! xo