Change

"Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change." - Wayne Dyer

Since the tornadoes struck a couple of weeks ago, I have been trying to really practice what I teach.

I think that most of us who live in the area are still dealing with the shock.......but in my community classes I keep talking to my students about gratitude and not dwelling on the devastation. The dead have been buried, clean up has begun and we have to acknowledge that as bad that day was, it could have been worse. The death toll could have been much higher, because every time I talk to someone who survived they tell a remarkable story......of being pulled from rubble, of flying through the air, of walls falling in on them.

It is difficult, because I have a hard time thinking of anything else......and there are times when I feel as if the skin has been pulled from my body and every nerve exposed. It is hard to concentrate, and go back to daily life as it was before, maybe we are not supposed to go back to the way things were before.

Rick and our friend Steve and I are playing a benefit in Cullman Saturday to help with fundraising. We practiced tonight and it felt good to let creative energy flow. It is odd, I think my voice sounds different,deeper, more throaty, dare I say a little aged.

Change........not just mere change, but upheaval has taken place all around us. I see it on the faces of people I meet in the grocery store, at the post office......this change came hard and fast.

Maybe as time goes by, all will be as before.......but that is hard for me to believe. I think for many of us, this change has been a lasting one....we will look at things different and those things will change.

So every morning, as I lie in bed, I go through my gratitude list, it has become an obsession.....to make sure that I acknowledge, that I don't forget. It is way too apparent how quickly it can all be lost. I find myself wanting to hear friend's voices, to see them and hug them one more time.

To let family and everyone around me know that I care, that they are important to me.

For the most part, change has always been a fairly easy thing for me to deal with, but this change

hangs in the air, heavy like summer humidity. I know that this too shall pass, but the burden of this change weighs on my shoulders and all those around me........ Good night, Sweet dreams.