I keep getting to the end of my days without doing everything I wanted to do. That makes it easy to not respond to people whose needs are “not urgent.” So when I read, “Practice being generous with your time or full attention even though you may be feeling you don’t have time to spare,” I sent two text messages. I feel better about the use of my time already and look forward to the phone calls these texts invite. I just needed a little help getting my mind outside of myself.

I have been walking the same path every day for the past 12 months. Every day gives me something new to see that I never noticed before. My path is the Big Creek Greenway in Alpharetta, Georgia which often gives me the company of deer, birds, and squirrels in addition to trees, bushes, flowers, vines, and other growing things, but I now think there is much to see anywhere we open our eyes to see what is there. This collection of seven lessons learned from leaves is beautiful and will make my coming year of walking the same path richer. Thank you!

Thank you for this encouragement. I walk the same path every day and love the routine. I know where to look for yellow flowers and where to look for purple flowers and where to look for the bright green leaf that reminds me of a butterfly. The bright green leaf has held in place for a long time and as I walked by yesterday I thought of the days that it yellows and browns and falls to the ground. Then I realized that I will remember after it is gone the spot where the bright green leaf that reminds me of a butterfly greeted me for weeks. I have friends, brothers and sisters, all along the path I walk every day. My walk is making me a more loving person because I bask in love the whole way.

I knew I was going to like your story when I read this: “You know, If I knew I was going to die on June 13, 2020 at 3:06 p.m, I would have prepared a delicious last supper the night before. It sounds crazy to tell you this, but that was how I felt.” When I cook my supper tonight, I will be grateful to be under your influence again!

I too have a history with breathing that inspires gratitude. I discovered in 1991 that I had a tumor growing on the front edge of my spine next to my heart. The doctor told me I had to undergo surgery within two weeks to remove it. Thoracic surgery is painful. I was in hospital for 8 days, I needed help getting out of bed for another week, and I was in pain for three months. I remember the time with joy because my heart was open during the pain. I saw the good in everyone. I told people I loved them. I felt honored and loved. I lived in gratitude. When the pain faded, my heart began to go back to its old, closed, cautious ways. I have been on a long walk back to the gratitude I felt in the early days of my pain. I am much closer now. Thank you for your help.

Thank you for helping convert a problem into a blessing for me. Let me explain. I realized that the concept of the bodily resurrection of the saints to Glory on Judgement Day that I was taught as a young man could not be as simple as the preachers were saying. The cycle of life that you have so beautifully expressed means that I share body cells, atoms, stuff with people who lived and died before me. I illustrated it crudely – A man dies in a field and his body becomes fertilizer for grass. A cow eats the grass that includes something of the man who fertilized it. Later the cow becomes meat for a family and something of the cow and the grass and the man who died becomes part of a mother, father, two children, a dog and a cat. This has been going on for a long time so how can we possibly have bodily resurrection on Judgement Day? We’ve been sharing body essence for 1000’s of years. If 1000 of us have shared a part, who gets it in the Resurrection? I saw a problem when literally no one around me did. The problem never created a crisis for me, but today, you showed me how the problem was really a blessing. It is good to be part of the cycle of life. Thank you.

Doing my job is not always fun, convenient, or satisfying, but it is my job so I do it. A job is a long-term project. The payoff of doing a job does not come every day and sometimes not every year. I once went through a phase of hating my job for several years, but could not find a better alternative. Now I like my job again and have a long track record of success doing it. Doing my job consistently has been good for me. Acceptance is sometimes challenging and might seem unpleasant, but I think, like a job, putting my head down and doing what I need to do will be good for me in the long run.