"It's what we lose that teaches us to suck all the juices out of every other moment in life," Joan Chittister wrote in her book Living Well.
As I look back on my own life, I can see the truth of that. It's in the losses that I've learned the most: losing my marriage, losing the opportunity to break another glass ceiling when I was highly qualified and expected by others to get the position, losing my job and losing friendships, to name a few.
Those experiences have taught me to make the most of what I do have, to cherish those who are in my life and to "suck all the juices" out of each day.
Do I remember that every minute of every day? Oh, how I wish! But as I often tell myself: It's not about perfection; it's about doing the best I can.
Think about your own life. What have you lost that has taught you to "suck all the juices" out of each moment?
How true! And it seems that those losses, and the grief connected with them, are the components in our lives that tend to sharpen our antennae to pick up on the hurts of those around us as well.
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