2008, My Watershed Year

Most of us have had at least one watershed experience in our lives,that event that resulted in a crucial turning point which continues to affect how we think and what we do. The watershed experience could have lasted only a moment or two, but in that short time,all things changed.

Whatever it was for you,I believe you share my view when I say that these occurrences,no matter how traumatic at the moment of impact,can result in good.

My watershed experience happened in 2008. In that year,my Mother to whom I was quite close,became ill and subsequently died, thus leaving me to continue life's journey without her, as I knew she(or I)would.

She had prepared me well, I later discovered.

All of the wisdom she imparted to me during my childhood and early adult life,was so helpful,and as a result, I was able to complete a major project in record time,while spending large portions of each day with her until her death on January 31,2008.
As a result of Mom's death,I have learned that watershed events can be excellent teaching tools when we are able,over time, to look beyond the trauma.

Here are some things my experience taught me or reinforced for me:
1. I must live each day to its fullest. During Mom's hospital stay,she would always ask me if I were working on the project, and she also encouraged me to continue doing the things I enjoyed doing,even when I insisted on spending all of my time with her;

2. Take note of the small simple things more often,natural wonders,flowers,a crystal clear blue sky, for example;

3. Forgive, as quickly as possible, those who have intentionally or unintentionally hurt me.Often when I visited Mom,she'd be praying;I could see her lips moving forming words as she prayed for her loved ones and those who were not so loving;

4. Help as many people daily as I can.This was hammered into my siblings and me from childhood,but it really became helpful when my Mother became ill, because it gave me something or someone else to think about,for a moment,instead of my sadness over her illness;

5. Do not waste valuable time worrying about things over which I have no control. This was dfficult at first because my Mother was never ill as I was growing up, and I just knew she'd pull through;

6. Pray daily; I found that just praying and journaling, relieved
so much of my stress and frustrations.

What about you?How has your watershed experience shaped you?
What do you do now that you would not have done were it not for that watershed event,that crucial turning point,that has forerver changed how you "see and do things?"