making tracks

I have an email subscription to a daily quote from gratefulness.org. I enjoy this for two reasons. 1) I'm a fan of good quotes, and there are times when they hit me right where I live and make a profound impact. I need that kind of preaching in my life since I rarely get to hear other people preach. 2) I still hope, one of these days, to produce some greeting cards that I can sell via Etsy, probably, and this proves to be a great resource for that effort. It's a good mail day when the quote serves both purposes.

This morning's quote offers another voice to a theme that's been at work within me lately: "We will be known forever by the tracks we leave." (Dakota proverb). I don't spend a lot of time pondering my mortality, and I have come to terms with the notion that when it's my day to go to the great beyond, most of my memorabilia will go to a different kind of great beyond. But while I'm here and breathing I do want what I do with my life to make a difference somehow, to someone.

There was a time in my life when I did lots of things for the people in my life to express my love and appreciation for them. That was before hard knocks left their mark and wounds went deep and debilitated. For all my awareness of those things and their impact, they continue to have too much power in my life, and it's time to change that. On Saturday a quote and a suggested attitude posted via facebook conspired to help me shift my perspective and feel more in charge of how my day transpired. It's a start, a step toward breaking free from old habits and moving away from well worn paths.

Today will be a great day. I will go forth and make it so.