LIVING WITH HEART

Graduating With Heart

Candace A. Croft, Ph.D.

© 2007 Candace A. Croft

It is that time of year when students walk across the stage during commencement ceremonies to receive degrees signaling the successful completion of one phase in life’s spiral dance and the beginning of another.  Graduating with honors has nothing to do with one’s grade point average, however.  When all is said and done, it has to do with living one’s life with honor, every day.  Graduating life with honors involves the following:

To live life without regrets because all choices, no matter how small, set the path that forms one’s identity, a path that effectively incorporates every experience--accomplishments as well as failures and celebrations along with trials—into the building of one’s character in this story called life, a path and identity that would have been false with the slightest alteration in step at any point on the way.

To live life authentically, standing strong in the face of personal difficulty without envying others their journeys because one can never know the special challenges that lay buried within their treasures.

To live life courageously realizing that whatever does not touch one’s spirit does not touch one at all.

To live life respectfully of others and the paths they must navigate, offering support by holding them warmly in one’s thoughts, assisting them as one should, but never trampling or strewing self-evident particles of truth upon their ways.

To live life anchored by heart observing the world, consciously aware of one’s part in it without becoming personally entangled in others’ growth, entanglements that would strangle or contaminate one’s progress.

To live life accepting that what seems threatening in another might simply represent a facet of self that has been denied or imprisoned.

To live life appreciating the garden’s reliance on diverse blooms reflecting the colors and energy of the rainbow and beyond, a profuse horticultural pattern that gives richness of depth and field, a design that may seem discordant or chaotic when viewed without grand vision.

To live life graciously, patient and forgiving of the mistakes committed by self and others, knowing every human stumbles as part of the co-creative process, equally recognizing that a greater error is committed when drawing attention to those mistakes and announcing them to the world like a town crier as if they represent, not normal ebbs and flows in learning, but flaws in character.

To live life in mindful release of the past that cannot be repeated in the future of here-and-now.

To live life defining self by the essence of one’s experiences rather than according to title, job, neighborhood, possessions, or bank account.

To live life freely expressing self, unashamedly dancing in accordance with the music and guided by the rhythm of one’s soul, trusting in its universal correspondence.

To live life quietly knowing when one can improve upon nature’s silence, a task more challenging and an accomplishment rarer than one is typically led to believe.

To live life wisely aligning each thought, word, and action with greater purpose, understanding that no person exists in isolation, but stands as an individual only as defined by the interrelated whole created, not for whimsical or mundane existence, but divinely creative expression as it contributes to the All.

To live life nurturing strong roots able to support the wings of an outstretched bloom and provide stability when threatened by riotous storms.

To live life prosperously, gratefully receiving daily abundance continually given as gifts of earth, air, fire, water, and metal across the seasons, from the precious stones born of the earth’s womb, the ocean’s hopeful expanse,  and crowning canopy of stars to moments of health, happiness, and brilliance.

To live life heeding the words of Kermit, the Frog who admitted it is not easy, but living green is divine.  It is no coincidence that our planet is primarily green—the color of health—and blue—the color of peace.  Being green is not about jealously attempting to keep pace with the Joneses, but walking grounded by integrity, conserving balance, and partnered with life-giving energy.

To live life gently, extending compassion by speaking and acting with harmonious intent or speaking and acting not at all, realizing every word and behavior reflects back only and ever upon the actor and that speaking ill or acting with harshness is to perjure one’s divine Self.

Above all, to live life joyously because that is why every person came into being, never expecting others to be a source of personal happiness or fulfillment because that can only be found within and, when tithed as an offering to the world, returns to the giver three-fold.

Go forth and commence life each day.  Do not strive for perfection.  A 4.0 in life is impossible, but living honorably is not.  You will graduate with honors when you—

KEEP YOUR HEARTLIGHT SHINING™