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Terry Cole-Whittaker wrote a book years ago called, “What You Think Of Me, Is None Of My Business”. The title of that book has stayed in my memory since I read it and I often think of it when I have been confronted by situations that challenge my liking myself. One of the goals of my life has been to be independent of the opinions of others. However, some days I seem to be closer to that goal and other days, I’m not so close.

Sometimes I get annoyed when my friends are just too busy to pick up the phone or answer an email or need to take calls during the time that we are together. And, I have been accused, so many times, of being too busy myself. Yet, as it turns out, being busy may have benefits. Why? Because new research suggests that staying busy could be the key to staying sharp as we age.

Last year I attended my 50th High School reunion in Larned, Kansas where I grew up. I was fortunate enough to be able to share that experience with several of my girlfriends who I have known since I was in elementary school. We’ve remained friends over the last 60 plus years and when we’re together, it’s as if we were still young girls. Time seems to stand still. And, the only difference is that our bodies have changed.

I’ve been thinking a lot about emotional resiliency lately because I’ve had so many things happen in which I’ve had to call upon this skill/ability. Although I think that my innate nature is to be more resilient, (I’ll explain more about this later); I do believe that it still took years to practice and refine.

Pending tasks – or, as I like to call them, ‘projects’: while we may dread them for various reasons, the truth is that our task list will never be empty. We should be glad, for as long as we have tasks to perform, work pending completion, or issues we need to improve, we can be sure that our lives are evolving and benefiting from all the experiences we accumulate while checking off items of our to-do lists.

I’m not talking about romantic love – that kind is only one of the various manifestations of Universal Love, which is what I would like to focus on in today’s message.