backward and forward

Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, observes that we understand our lives looking backward, but we plan our lives looking forward.

So, for me, looking backwards there are disappointments, losses, weaknesses, misunderstandings, grief, unexpected changes, loneliness and tragedy in my life. Certainly these things are a part of me. But who I am has been more shaped by the fingerprints of miraculous events, beautiful places and wonderful loving people. These are the powerful marks that have touched and molded my understanding of life.

I have plans, visions of possibilities, and great hopes as I look forward.

For now, however, my life is paused somewhere between the backward and the forward. As a friend pointed out, there is also the being. Maybe most important is the being in the now. Enjoying, experiencing and being thankful for the present.