Reflections on sharing my journey -- 9/3/2025

I'm hoping that by sharing my journey it will help others if they or their loved ones need to face serious illness, just by giving another way of looking at life and death. Also, all of the positive vibes and supportive thoughts are really helpful for me and my family.
It's really nice for me to reminisce about all of the interesting people I have been able to know and love in my 70 years of life. Facebook does have a way of creating these diverse friend groups with people from almost every era of my life.
Every morning I do 5 or more minutes of mindfulness meditation (just to experience being present) and 5 or more minutes of gratitude meditation for my health, my relationships, and my life work.
During the relationship part I think about how lucky I've been to know and love so many different people over my lifetime starting with my wife and kids for the last half of my life, but also my parents, siblings, other relatives, classmates over the years, best friends, colleagues of 40 years at work, students of 50 years of teaching, neighbors, friends and colleagues of my wife and my kids, mentors, beloved pets, crushes and girl friends from my school days, my doctors and nurses most recently, people that I recognize on the street or in shops but don't really know, writers whose books and papers I've read, etc.
I'm thankful that each of these thousands of people (including you of course) has left an impression on me (and thousands of others). Your impact has helped make me who I am. Some people (and pets) I've known and loved deeply; others I've known and loved only as fellow travelers on this amazing and confusing journey through life as a fellow sentient being!
In any case, there is always much to be grateful for and to remind myself of this embarrassment of relationship riches is an amazing way to start each day; reminding myself that I am connected to so many others, all of us trying our best to understand the world and make it a better place for ourselves and our loved ones.



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