I have had this bookmark for over twenty years.  Every other month or so, I pull it out and I reflect how truthful this still is for me:

"Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.  To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.  To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.  To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.  To think only of the best, to work only for the best and expect only the best.  To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.  To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.  To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every livi8ng creature you meet a smile.  To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.  To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble." ~ Christian D. Larence

I pulled it out again tonight in honor of a phone call message I received this week.  Someone that I've known for that twenty years.  In fact, I bought this bookmark at a time when I was struggling to remember ever single promise.  So, I've looked over the past twenty years.  I'm amazed at where I am and how truly far I have come.

There was a time when I measured love against the willingness to stick with someone no matter how horrifying things became.  There was something about the idea of proving a depth of love that was greater than the problems that came up.  Thank God I left that behind a decade ago.  That isn't love.  It is dysfunction.  It is the chaos of a wounded heart.  It is the drama of the internally deadened.  But it isn't love.

There was a time when I thought this bookmark meant to be stoic and without feeling.  Thank God I left that meaning behind fifteen years ago.  It simply means to me now that I am not the emotion that I feel.  I no longer identify myself within the confines of an emotional reaction.  Seems to invite less ego and more honesty to the moment.  And when I am in the moment, I become so strong that nothing can disturb my peace.

Learning how to honor the positive saved my life.  I can't believe it is the same life I had twenty years ago.  I can't believe the effortless way I am able to hold boundaries and to talk about things.

This past year there was a time in which I allowed someone to dishonor who I am.  It shook me.  I pulled this bookmark out.  I went back to some basics.  I was graced with a boyfriend that also enjoys Eckhart Tolle and I honed the ego part of me that felt hurt by someone else's hatred.  I remembered again and again the divinity of my being and I let go.

I look at the woman I am today and the girl I was twenty years ago and I realize.... I have kept this promise.  More often than not, I am in integrity with this promise.

I don't just talk about love.  I live it.  I don't wax eloquence about kindness.... I offer it.  I am no longer held sway to the dynamics of others.  I honor my health and my recovery first.

And there is peace in my life.  My relationships are blessed.  My communion with this special man is effortless and vibrantly alive.  There is no drama or chaos that churns in the air around me.

I can sit in the stillness and let the touch of divine radiate within me.  I promised myself that I would!

I used to write an annual newsletter (prior to blogging –  which is an ongoing newsletter of sorts for me). I wrote this in my 2003 Newsletter. I continue to believe every single word. The only thing that has changed is the sheer hope I feel beginning to stir! This was called “There is a purpose to everything….”

Sometimes when I have a glimpse of the “bigger picture” I am humbled and awed at the threads that weave a greater tapestry.

In 1849 in Denmark, a man was born to a huge family that totaled 17 children. At the young age of 21 he immigrated to America. It was a time of hardship. He survived many years of extreme poverty in filthy, overcrowded conditions. His life and his prospects seemed mighty dim and he grew suicidal.

Slowly he pulled himself out of the pain of his surroundings. Eventually, he became a police reporter for a prominent NYC newspaper. The fortuitous invent of flash for pictures met the capable hands of this writer/photographer.

Rather than ignore what was an extremely painful time in his life, Jacob A. Riis wrote a book called “How the other half lives”. He documented both in picture and through his poignant writing, the demoralizing and inhumane conditions of the tenements in New York City at the turn of the century.

Coming home one day he discovered a calling card with the words “Came to help.” The card belonged to Theodore Roosevelt, who had read Jacob Riis’ book and was moved to act.

Roosevelt visited the decrepit tenements with his newfound friend. He was able to see the horrific conditions for himself. You need to stop a moment and understand the enormity of the challenge Riis and Roosevelt met. The tenements were truly horrors.

The worse of them had stalls set up which would sleep six per stall (the size of a queen sized bed). There was no ventilation, indoor plumbing, insulations, heat or bedding. Bottom floors received the sewage that ran off during rain.

Picture your life held to sleeping in wet muck and sewage next to strangers. As New York Assembly man, NYC Police Commissioner, Governor for NY State and finally U.S. President, Teddy Roosevelt worked to change these horrific conditions.

The willingness of Jacob Riis to rise above the adversity he had experienced and offer a voice of advocacy cheers me greatly. He had the choice to become embittered. He had the “justification” to allow the low points in his life dictate the man he would become and yet… he allowed the man he was dictate a better way of life for millions of people and their children, and the children that followed through another century.

Problems that we think are insurmountable aren’t. One simple person can change the course of the future! In case these words seem empty and overly optimistic… One man – Jacob Riss – spoke up with dignity and assurance that change needed to happen. One man – Teddy Roosevelt – heard him. The nation changed.

We live in times that beg us to change. Your voice matters. I believe there is someone to hear. All it requires of us is to sound the call and rise to the challenge.

A couple of days ago I said that we could change the world. We can! You can!