5 years ago...

Leah had to leave this world much much too early, 5 years ago today. We love and miss you Leah, deeply.

I'm sure those many of us thinking of her today, and everyday, have considered what it would be like if she were here now during the trying times for our world.

I read somewhere recently, that those of us who are anxious about the potential toll the coronavirus could have on our health or our loved ones, or our livelihoods for that matter, could learn a thing or two from cancer patients.

Leah learned to live with great uncertainty, and had to endure a great number of challenges and scary times, yet she strove to find perseverance and make the best of each day despite theses odds against her, which were far far worse than we face today.

She also recognized the joy in staying compassionate towards others even when feeling fearful yourself. Below is her post from March 15, 2014 which starts with her quoting the book, Comfortable with Uncertainty

Awakening

"Everything we do can be done with one intention, to wake up, to ripen our compassion, and we want to ripen our ability to let go, we want to realize our connection with all beings. Everything in our life has the potential to put us to sleep or wake us up, allowing it to awaken us is up to us."

I feel like this idea of allowing things to awaken us is so applicable to my life. Instead of just shutting down and going to sleep over what I am dealt with, I want to be awakened and do with it what I can to make a difference. Someone emailed me yesterday saying that they read some of my postings and that it encouraged them to reach out to a friend in need. That was the greatest gift to me, to hear that my words were encouraging to someone and that the encouragement allowed that person to touch another's life. How much better of a gift could there be?!

-Leah Ploutz