A Wonderful Life 2010 (Synthesis Note [34])

Welcome to 2010…it’s a wonderful life! Remember that movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)”?!? If for some reason you haven’t, it’s a great holiday movie about an angel who helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he never existed. I was a kid when I first saw it, and although I didn’t understand all the themes at the time, I was attentive enough to have the seed planted that without certain people in my life, it would not be the same, and vice versa.

There were many times in 2009 when I questioned my self-value. It was a challenging year! RL demands and financial problems, relationships gone sour, periods of loneliness that felt worse during the holidays…and on and on. Many times I wanted it all to stop… and to be given a chance to start over. As the close of the year drew near, I began to explore what I might change in the approaching New Year.

Lots of things were placed on the chopping block for consideration…some personal relationships, a change in my professional career… and my Second Life. I, however, wondered if the things I want to release, might actually be serving me in some way that I do not yet understand. I still get confused about my Second Life. Why I am here, why I feel so compelled to stay and whether it actually serves any real purpose in my life. I cannot deny, however, the value of the relationships I have built, the joy I experience when I virtually connect with people here, and the applicability of some of the SL experiences, in my RL.

One of my greatest pleasures in SL is the ability to PLAY with abandon. I can present my avatar in whatever form I wish and still be accepted and appreciated. Not sure if I could show up to a ball dressed as a Na’vi from the movie “Avatar (2009)” and receive the same reaction. (chuckles) It gives my heart so much joy to play …probably the reason why I love kids so much. I can hear the childhood song “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”  in my head as I am writing this. The lyrics are so simple that it is probably the best advice I can follow as I resolve to create a better year in 2010 than I had in 2009.

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

A Wonderful Life… what made the life more valuable in that 1946 movie was a new LOOK on that life. George’s ability to appreciate his life from another PERSPECTIVE was what liberated him from his pain. His circumstances did not change, his outlook of them did, and that brought him tremendous joy and peace.

Instead of focusing on all of 2010, I’ll choose to focus on each day, …each new moment, and opportunity at a time. Everything, every day is a new creation. It is a new activity moving through us at that very moment. So, when things are not so merry, I’ll stop…ask myself what can I do differently IN THAT MOMENT to change the direction of my thoughts and thereby my actions. From that peaceful place, I affirm that I will gain BETTER understanding of what I need to release and what to allow in. If I am unable to think of anything else, I will express my gratitude for whatever things keep me whole in that moment… my friends, my family, my health, …for the love in my heart.

“Peace by Piece” is my resolution for the new year.. for this new day. Thank you for allowing me to share and for sharing your Second Lives with me.

Sharing my Peace/Piece, with love and gratitude
…gently and merrily down the stream,
Acu   XOXO