In this life, we are all here to learn lessons, and we will keep being presented with opportunity to learn them until we get it right. One of lessons I have to learn this time around is about people I choose to let into my life. I used to be kind of person who would let anyone into my life if they seemed to like me. I was emotionally needy. As I progressed, I thought that I was starting to get more discerning about this. I thought that I was learning to avoid people who were going to be negative influences and weigh me down. Some years ago, I had a friend who was a very toxic person. She was emotionally out of control, making very poor decisions and bringing a lot of negativity into my life. I made decision to end friendship. At time, I attempted to do this gently, but she was very offended, and wrote me an 18-page letter, rambling and quite scary. It clearly illustrated to me that I had made a very poor decision by letting her into my life to begin with, and that I had done right thing in cutting her loose. To be honest, I was rather pleased with myself for making right decision. I had learned a valuable lesson! I was never going to get into that situation again! After practically wrenching my arm by patting myself on back, on I went with my life.

About 7 years ago, I met a lady who would become my “best friend”. I gave her keys to my kingdom, so to speak. I shared everything with her, and she with me, or so I thought. As time went on, I could clearly see that she had her own emotional baggage, but don’t we all? I certainly went through some tough times during our friendship, some of which I have shared with you in past issues. There were times that I was an emotional wreck. However, I did learn from these bad times. I grew, and moved on. I genuinely learned that I would be just as happy as I decide to be in this life. I choose to be happy here.

When we encounter a great loss of someone we care about, or an unfortunate event in our lives, our heart and soul shatter into pieces. There they lie, right there in front of us. The pieces are there - just not all together. How do we get back to way things were or how do we regain past so that we can enjoy it yet another day? You can’t bring back past, nor can you set things back way they were. The important thing to remember is that all pieces are there. We need to pick them up and glue them together. It is because all pieces are there that we can look forward and that our lives will continue.

The past is just that - past. If we focus on future, we miss joys and opportunities of today. Today is freedom to be and to heal. Refusing to believe in concept of impossible is glue that we use to mend and to fix what shatters in our daily lives. Memories are a joy, and a comfort. If they are good memories, then we are better for having experienced them. If they are far from perfect, they opened our minds and hearts to reality that life is not perfect, but it is there for us to learn from, and move ahead. Also, you must let go of things you cannot control. Holding on to reins that are not yours will never give you peace and serenity that you have a right to. You can only fix what you can, and believe that others will do same in their own time and way.