2005 indeed started off with a bang for me . . . or perhaps more appropriately, "a crack."
I was jogging at night, playfully criss-crossing back and forth across the street, when I stepped off of the curb once more, and whammmo! – twisted my ankle.
I landed up hobbling my way home, all the while cursing my stupidity and my ill luck.
I arrived home barely able to walk. I got an ice pack out and plopped myself on a couch in front of the television feeling just a little sorry for myself.
Despite a record-breaking book-selling season for me (as I described in my last newsletter series), it had come only after one thing going wrong after another resulting in me working 14 hours a day for the four months leading to and through Christmas.
I had thought I was leaving the ill luck behind in 2004.
And now this . . . a twisted ankle, for gosh sakes.
A few minutes after I turned on the television, an evening special began on the Tsunami tragedy. Up until that point, I had barely had time to see anything but glimpses of news reports about the unimaginable events in Southeast Asia.
Now the reporter began telling the story of Petra Nemcova, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model who survived 8 hours clinging to a tree, her pelvis broken and her boyfriend swept out to sea. I watched transfixed for the next two hours at the scenes of total devastation and misery.
It’s not necessary to describe the change of emotion I experienced at that moment. Suffice it to say, any one of tens of millions of people in that part of the world would have been happy to be safely seated in my place in a warm dry home, immobilized by a twisted ankle or not. And it would take the most hardened human being not to realize it.
Several of you have written me, trying to come to terms with what you have seen on television. And I had a call about the same subject from a friend of mine who works at CNN.
Monitoring the events in Southeast Asia 8 to 12 hours a day, continually seeing the images, he was numbed by the tragedy to the point of not being able to sleep.
That, the emails and particularly an email from Te Aroha Taki, a member of the noble Maori people in New Zealand, has triggered me to write this newsletter. It is not so much about New Year’s Resolutions as it is about Resolutions of the Spirit –
And, particularly, Your spirit, my friend.
You have your own trials. Whether you are experiencing relationship challenges, financial difficulties, health issues, or even loss of a precious loved one . . . you nor I will ever likely have to face such total devastation approaching the magnitude of what millions of survivors in Southeast Asia are now facing.
What can you learn from this epic catastophe?
What possible "Gifts" might there be to take into your own life from it?
Or is it all just meaningless?
The 30 Gifts of Life you are receiving from me should clue you in to what my perspective might be.
Please read Te Aroha’s heartfelt email to me about the Tsunami victims and my response to him about "Resolutions of the Spirit" at http://snipurl.com/bv2e .
Then, kindly, click the "Comments" link to add your own "Resolutions of the Spirit" so that you may take part in strengthening the many other souls who will read what you write.
Thus, though we may never be able to make sense out of such tragedy, we will, together, begin to create the tiny miracles that will bless all of us together.
God bless,
Michael