WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST MEMORY? Hope it is a good one. One of my Daily Dozen Staying Strong exercises is called Honor Past Gifts. Here is what I say about that:
Exercise six: Honor past gifts. This exercise asks you to pay special attention to those responsible for all you have or are right now. We are the continuation of all the generations leading up to ours. We are the continuation of the caring our immediate, extended families,, friends, and teacher gave. Some gave a great deal, others gave less. Each gave all they could. The most powerful way to honor past gifts is to focus on a memory of one person from your past who gave the gift of caring. That person may not have always been nurturing; nevertheless, the gift sh/e gave became part of who you are today.
You can honor the gift from a different person each time you do the exercise. You honor gifts by taking a calming breath, shutting your eyes, and recalling a time you and the person spent together when you felt cherished, cheered on, or otherwise nurtured. When you honor such past gifts, you give yourself the gift of caring all over again.
What a beautiful memory!!
Yes, I am lucky to have this to hold onto and any number of other good ones.