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Staying unattached: When we decide to live as love in the world, it changes the way we approach every encounter. It enables us to show up as who we are, rather than in reaction to who we think the other person is. When we have decided to take love into the world, and we have practiced doing that, we begin by getting in our heart before every interaction. Then, we can easily look for and respond to the highest good in that person.

Dad’s Last Words I was my father’s caregiver during the last two years of his life. Because of his dementia, he alternated between episodes of confusion and relative mental clarity. At the end of his life, he was in hospice care, but still at home. On the last evening of his life, he was lying in his bed. I put a cool, wet washcloth on his forehead and said softly, “I right here, Dad.” “That’s the problem,” he said. Surprised, I asked him, “Why is that a problem?” “Because you should not have to be taking care of me.” He finally said what he had been thinking during our two years together. He was a very proud, self-reliant man, and it must have weighed heavily on him to realize that he needed help. “Oh, Dad,” I said. “This is why I wanted you to be with us – so that I could be here with you now.” He never said another word, but a tear ran down his left cheek.

This is thought-provoking. I agree that focusing on doing what is right gives meaning to our lives, and relationships with other people create the foundation for our lives.
I do not see this as a form of hopelessness. I see it as an investment in the future which I may not be here to witness, but I live with the belief that my contribution is helping to create the future I hope for.

I have come to trust my inner guidance, which I recognize as the power of love within me. It is that part of me that is an extension of the loving, intelligent power from which I emerged - sometimes called God, or Source or the Universe or many other names. It is my true identity, but I have not yet been able to experience myself in that way. So, I think of this part of me as a wise friend who knows much more than I do and whom I can trust. It has often led me to places or people I could never have known to seek out on my own. It has inspired choices that my that logical mind would never have made – choices that brought me to exactly where I needed to be at that time in my life. We all have this wisdom within us. We just need to call on it and learn to listen, then trust it enough to take the inspired action. There is no security in the outer world that we can trust better than the security within.