My Precious

Normally, I can't hear this phrase without thinking about Gollum - that's the power of story-telling I suppose.  But today, I mean it in a different sense.

I want you to go through an exercise with me.

Think about what is most precious in your life, and now imagine that it's threatened in some way.  The overwhelming feeling of angst, the desire to jump to defend, and the need to secure that most precious aspect of our lives is powerful.  It elicits primal responses in many of us - the adage about never getting between a mother and her cubs is apt here.  The unbalanced-ness (my blog, I can make up words if I like) of it is disturbing too, the shifting ground of what's normal, of what is normally considered fair play from fate, and the implications that once something bad has happened, you can't really ever go back to the way things were.  Let it sink in.

Look carefully at that first sentence again now, as I said 'imagine' not actually experience it.  Imagining it is safe - safer anyway, and it offers a glimpse into many of the same deep-seated reactions as actually going through the event you thought up.  Do it again, but this time though, I want you to experience the relief that what you thought about isn't real, that it won't come true, and that your reality isn't changed.  Relief in this sense is very good.  Let it wash over you a little.

Ok, I'd bet that some of you are thinking that this is a stupid little exercise designed to wind your heart up for no reason.  Well, it's not, and here's why.  I want you to go embrace that which is most precious to you, and let it/them/whatever know that you think they are precious to you, and ensure they know it.  Maybe you just have to admit it to yourself, or perhaps you should go hug someone and tell them you care.

Too often in our busy lives we take for granted that which we truly value, those aspects of our lives that are most precious in our hearts and minds.  I'd like to take a moment  - before you might ever have to - and express your own gratitude that they are in your life.