In Praise of the Humble Hyphen

If she were still alive, my grandmother Mildred Joyce Webster Cole would have been 101 years old today. 

I remember eating in a little diner with her after church in her adopted home of Reno, Nevada when I was not yet double-digits of age. As I recall, she had taken me to the store to purchase a card for my mother. We sat together at a booth in the diner while I wrote what I wanted to say. I misjudged the space available, and wouldn’t you know it I ran out of room to write an entire word in the space there was. Grandmother put me at ease and introduced me to a trick that I remember to this day, which was the use of a hyphen. If you ever run out of room to write what you want to say, you can add one of those dashes, preferably at a break between consonants, and everything will be fine. 

It has been a little while since I posted anything on social media because I have been preoccupied with all the transformations going on around me. The world has been changing so rapidly that I find that the space available to say what I want to say keeps shifting. 

I believe that what I have to share was passed on to me in a heartbeat, not only from one grandmother, but from all of our ancestors. Whatever space there is to express the love, and experience the festival of learning that is the purpose of our lives, is to be continued. 

My most recent realization is that there are things I have to say that cannot be said at this time - and so rather than saying the things that you or me or the world may not be ready for I am going to begin sharing the things that make plain and simple sense right here and now. I have some amazing opportunities to share with everyone, and I imagine that sharing what is obvious will lead to more opportunities for all of us.  

All I know is the pandemic happened at the same time I had already decided that I was going to start living a fearless life. In one of the most fearful times I have ever experienced, I already felt called to let go of fear and create a way of living that was completely focused on helping others focus on what they were ready to learn about next, particularly with children and families. Since March of 2020, I have experienced the challenges that all of us have experienced in navigating this new normal, but I have been acutely aware that I never want to go back to the way things were before. We made it to the future for a reason.  

Fear of failure may hold us back from embracing our true purpose. We hesitate, afraid that our efforts will fall short. That is the old programming, the old “AI” getting in the way of the real possibility that we can do what has never been done before. There is no reason why we cannot use the time and space we have to create a future that will make way for our grandchildren’s grandchildren to continue whatever good we can imagine and put our hearts into. In fact, that is how the future is always made. Notice. Recognize. Respond. Are you ready? 

#Inspiration #SuccessIsInevitable #UnleashYourGenius #EmbraceTheUnknown