Counting down…

I have a few days left in my 50s. It’s hard to believe I will be 60-years old, really. It’s actually shocking. How did that happen?

Even though I still feel like a youngster, I have to say that I’ve “lived” as fully as I could. Coming to America in 1982 as a young and fearless foreign student was the beginning of my adventure. I wasn’t one to have a long term career goal or ambition as I entered the adulthood though I had lots of dreams for sure. AND many of my dreams did come true. Living in America speaking English fluently was one of my big dreams from my childhood. I can certainly check that one, “√.” America provided abundant resources and tools to help me pursue my dreams that I couldn’t have had I stayed in Japan, and eventually allowed to be an “American citizen.” Without a doubt, most came from the people I’ve met along the way who helped and inspired me, for whom I am profoundly grateful.

As we continue to face this very unsettling time, I’m reflecting on how I would spend the last third of my life. What kind of contribution would I be able to offer so I will know that I l will leave this home we call the Earth better than how I found it 60 years ago. That’s a big question. Is teaching Dharma my calling? Is promoting green building in residential realm my passion? How about making pictures and writing? These are the things I’m considering, yet I’m actually uncertain what my “life purpose” would look like for the next 30 or more years. True, I don’t have to know — just like I didn’t when I got to America and how much I have been able to do for “good causes.”

Today more than ever, I have to take one day at a time, to live my life in gratitude and with an intention to be a positive element of humanity trusting that I’m guided by an invisible force. Having time to get quiet everyday is prerequisite in order to maintain that conscious contact with the Invisible.

#YouCanSitWithUs