APRIL 16, 1999

It was around four in afternoon when I got call from my brother, Steve: We were all being called to mama’s bedside as she only had hours to live; lung cancer had taken its toll on her, as it did with daddy almost nine years earlier. Although living in Ashland, Kentucky (eight hours away), I promised him I’d be there – my son, Tim, was shipping out for Navy basic, but, after seeing him off, I’d be coming down. Unfortunately, I was an hour late. Mama was probably already hugging Daddy again by time I made it into Pineville. As I stood outside my sister’s house, thinking about all years I’d spent apart from family and living on my own with my two sons, I couldn’t help remembering how, on my last visit in 1995, I went over to mama’s house on Park Avenue and, just before leaving to return to Kentucky, reminding her of what daddy said years before. “Mama, let me hold you just one more time.” How could I have known I’d never have that opportunity again? Today, I wonder: How can any of us know when, where or even if we’ll see each other again? Maybe it’s time we took a closer look at what our spouses, our children, our friends, neighbors – our country – mean to us. In light of today’s turbulent political and socioeconomic climate – at a time when we’re faced with so many uncertainties – isn’t NOW a good time to hold those we hold dear just “one more time” … just in case? Because how do we know … we may never see them again, except on other side of forever. We may never taste goodness we have right now … it could be taken away in an instant. So, with that in mind, let me say: Tim and Mike, though one of you is in Iraq, other just returned and you’re still some distance away, in my heart and through email let your dad “hold you just one more time”; brothers and sister, it’s same thing, for you’re still “down home”. In my thoughts, “let me hold you just one more time.” Friends, readers, acquaintances from Ashland and around world; though I may have never met you in person, “let me hold you just one more time.” AMERICA – LAND OF THE FREE AND OF OPPORTUNITY – MY HOME – “LET ME HOLD YOU JUST ONE MORE TIME.” … just in case …

So, what can you do? There are two strategies that you can adopt to be successful:

1.Focus on your necessary and positive thoughts. Necessary thoughts: those that keep your life working naturally and Positive thoughts are those that move you forward with intention of forming win/win relationships. Both are invaluable. They bring you energy and success. They are your seeds to a successful life. They drive your feelings, words and actions. The more you can think in positive more your feelings, words and actions are positive and you are successful. 2.Stop asking yourself ‘why’ whenever you don’t get results you want.. ‘Why’ only causes you to respond with ‘because’. And any sentence starting with ‘because’ means that you are now defending your past behaviour and change is impossible. Instead ask yourself; ‘what caused it to happen’ or ‘how did it happen’. Now you have something strong to base your future on. These strategies are antidote that finishes complacency and give you freedom. You have freedom to choose your behaviour. You don’t have to continue following others and what others say to you. All you have to do is focus on your natural and positive thoughts. These give you power and enable you to find what you are truly capable of. The most courageous people in world are those who overcome disease of complacency and strive to be all they are capable of being. "Only those who risk going far can possibly find out how far one can go" (TS Eliot 1888 - 1965)

Graham and Julie www.desktop-meditation.com