WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?

Motto: a word or words to live by; a guiding principle; something short or cute or easily remembered that identifies something in yourself.

We're going to talk about personal mottoes today . . . and you've no doubt guessed that a personal motto comes from one's own, um, personal experience.

For example, Heather Lende came up with "Find the Good" as a three-word bit of advice to give her children. (This was a challenge given to her by a friend.) From just this small experience, Heather wrote a whole book titled, naturally, Find the Good. 

I know people who have adopted Murphy's Law as their own--"If something can go wrong, it will." (Why would anybody seriously want to go around living their life based on that?)

So let's ignore all unhelpful possibilities. I'll share my motto today:

FORWARD IS FORWARD

You may remember I've used that before, with a tortoise trudging across the page.

My recent experience with getting a new heart valve gave me endless (it seems) insights into forward movement. So I made a list of activities and events that can't be hurried:

• gestation of a baby--human, other animal child. Though each species has its own timetable, they all follow the rules--going forward. (We'll not get into problem pregnancies here.) And--it takes as long as it takes.
• healing--broken bones, surgery, relationships, traumas of all kinds
• maturing  of children (definitely not delving into this one)
• cooking/baking/canning/preserving--you don't stop in the middle
• growing a garden

That's enough to give you the idea--things start out, they progress, and eventually they end.

Is there ever a situation in which we stop and go back? Well, how about doing homework? If you don't get the right answer, wouldn't you back up and try again? (That's assuming you have an answer key and can check your own work.) Or if you can't get an answer at all?

Language labs often have recorders so students can repeat words and phrases in foreign languages and then listen to their own voices alongside the native speaker's example. (This was a good way to experience humility, as I learned in my foreign language days.)

In my own experience, I've ripped out many a line of stitching because of errors in my piecing or cutting. Another good humility-builder--making a quilt. Or a piece of clothing.

So, yes, sometimes we stall out: we have to stop, turn around, retrace our steps, then go forward again. Some things (listed above) may go from start to finish. But there just as many in which trying again is the best advice. (You may know it as "learning from experience.")

Here's a piece of advice from my own life:

     If you don't start, nothing happens.

     If you do start, be prepared to go all the way.

Currently, I am going to cardiac rehab three times a week--one-hour sessions, for a period of 6 or 8 weeks. A lot depends on how I progress. Some days I'm rather slow. Other days, I can keep going more easily. And it all depends on my advice to myself:

FORWARD IS FORWARD

Blessings,

Thursday's Child