Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Sharing Our Journeys

Tonight I was reading the blog of a friend. In it he was wondering how much of his personal life he should share publicly. It's a good question. Originally the daily thoughts I share via email were just a collection of quotes. I didn't share personal experiences or feelings. It was really just on a whim that I shared a personal story. I wrote a few sentences about the first time my wife and I kept our granddaughter, Chloe, for the entire night. At the time Chloe was three weeks old and we were in our fifties. It was quite a night. The response to this personal story was great so I began sharing more of my personal journey. In my stories I try to be open and honest about the ups and downs of my life without using this forum as a dumping ground for all my inner turmoil. Yes, it's true. Sometimes I do have inner turmoil. I have often found that when I share something that caused me the greatest pause before I hit the send button, I got the greatest response. The responses are always affirmative because other people identified with whatever I was talking about. At other times, what I may have been hesitant to share was exactly what someone else needed to read that day. My more joyful experiences, such as going to a concert, sometimes prompted people to get out and live. The reality is that we may not always have the same experiences, but as human being we do share the same kinds of feelings in our lives. We all love and desire to be loved. We all want to be happy. We all are sometimes afraid and fearful. We are all sometimes lonely and sad. We are all sometimes bored and dull of mind. So, I think it is a good thing to share our journeys with one another as long as we don't use other people as trash bins. Whether your experience is good or bad, use it to enlighten others. As others may have been a light for your path, be a light for others. Lets help one another down the road.

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