Looking up to the sky on a clear night in central Oregon, far from any lights, I can see so many stars. When I look up on a clear summer night in my city back yard by the campfire, I know there are as many stars up there as in central Oregon, but it’s different because I can’t see them.
Seeing others pushing and reaching beyond who and what they are- these are the stars I see in others that help me imagine my own greater life. To grasp beyond what is possible is a leap of faith. Going beyond the visible often requires something or someone to be a spark.
I grew up with grandparents who lived nearby. My sisters and I used to argue about who got to stay the weekend at their home. They took us camping, boating and fishing. I can still smell grandma cooking the rainbow trout for breakfast that we had caught an hour earlier. I hiked up and down rivers all over Oregon fly-fishing with grandpa.
I remember as they got older that their world was getting smaller. It wasn’t just that they were getting older. Grandpa especially seemed to be shutting out the world around him. I thought to myself even then “I can’t let that happen to me as I get older”.
I’m lucky in that I have a father who turns 82 this year who works out at least 5 days a week. He’s always meeting new people and everyone becomes his friend He still works at the office. A number of years ago I said to him “You must love working out. You do it all the time.” He said “I don’t love it. But I know I have too”. It’s important for dad to keep pushing himself.
I turn 55 this year and two months ago I started CrossFit training. I continue to be amazed at physical activities that I had no idea I could do. Clearly I can’t do physically what I did 30 years ago, but that’s not the point. It’s been a mind opening experience about who I see myself as physically and what I’m capable of being now.
My experiences with my grandfather and my dad greatly shape what I’m doing today to take care of myself. It helped create my “inner personal” world view about what I can be now and in the future. We all have our own worldview about who we are physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually that are shaped by many relationships, and sometimes a single interaction.
Whether it’s a crossfit gym, my grandfather or father, I need them and their examples. I can only hope that their inspiration lives through and beyond me.
We are all an inspiring and healing force for one another. It’s easy to forget that we are as important to others, as they are to us, in living our best lives. It’s a wonderful life when expanding who we are and what we can be affects more than ourselves.
It’s when each one of us is living our best life that we help others do the same. The more we understand about ourselves, and live a passionate life pursuing our higher and deeper selves- the better we ignite others to shine even brighter.
To know what you can be to others, by what you are to yourself, is to be both the star and the stargazer.
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