Sometimes you feel that a change in your life, a relationship cut short by death or by life - like losing your job, or becoming ill and so forth is equivalent to the end of the world. You take it hard. Death is not the end of the world. A tornado is not the end of the world. Nothing is the end of the world. A phase in life has changed. A phase in life is always changing. This IS the world.

You have a solid base, yet you may waver all over the place. You feel you are riding on a roller coaster while you are actually riding on a silent escalator.

Everything in life is moving you forward, what you welcome and that which you do not welcome. Life and its foibles are not to be taken so personally. Are you to be disheartened because life takes a certain course and not another? This is typical of life in the world.

You know, dear ones, you are not a cowboy, and life is not supposed to be a horse you are breaking in. Life is more like a horse you ride for pleasure. Life is not always predictable. Surprise yourself and roll with what you see as punches.

Life is meant to be capricious. Life is not always your knight in shining armor. Life may be a bucking bronco. It’s all right to fall off every now and then. And what are you supposed to do at those times? Why, pick yourself up and get right back on, of course. Keep riding, riding, riding.

If the terrain is rough, and you have to walk barefoot, then you walk barefoot.

And if you have to sit down and rest, then you sit down and rest.

Life is not intended to be scintillating every moment. Nor is life intended to do you in. Life depends upon your reaction to it. The life you lead is your reaction to life. You don’t have to sing Stormy Weather. You can just as well sing a song called Sunny Weather.

If it is too hot to ride at High Noon over the Moor, then ride at Midnight over the Moor.

You don’t have all choices, yet you have choices.

When loved ones pass on, you are entitled to miss them, and you can also remind yourself that hearts seem to break, and hearts recover, and your heart will no longer bleed.

Life, as you may have known it, has deserted you, yet you are not deserted. What has changed? What has changed is where you are. You no longer go to the same places you used to. You do not take a walk with your beloved any longer, yet you are still you, and you are still afforded life. When you hang on to being bereft, as if being bereft is a declaration of your love and the depth of your loyalty, you will hold onto being bereft as long as you can.

Perhaps it is you who is being unfair to yourself. Perhaps you have sentenced yourself to despair. Perhaps it is your protest that enables your suffering. Perhaps you are the culprit while life is simply strutting its stuff. Perhaps you sentenced yourself to servitude and dubbed yourself martyr. A crime was not perpetrated upon you. You perpetrated it upon yourself, and you may continue to perpetrate the crime you denounce. It is you who won’t let yourself off the hook. It is you who won’t give yourself the freedom to enjoy and absorb the good times.

Do not think I make light of your heartache. Simply, heartache is not to keep. It is to let go of. You may not bring your loved one back to hold your hand or get your old job back or whatever you mourn for, yet you can bring yourself back to life on your own recognizance. Pretty much, you have to.