As I walked along the Fraser River, thinking about request I had received to friend someone or to join someone's network, from various social networks I belong to I thought about a quote I had read recently:
There comes a point in your life when you realize who matters, who never did, who won't anymore... and who always will. So, don't worry about people from your past, there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.
Many of us want to reconnect to the past, that is why high school reunions, social networks, etc are so popular. As I stood watching the river current, hurrying toward the sea, carry the debris the river had collected from its point of origin, I realized that the quote was only partially true. You should not worry about people from your past, but you should think about who matters, and sometimes because life happens we lose sight of those who matter to us and we leave them in our past.
Social Networks and reunions give us a chance to revisit our past and reconnect with those we thought we had lost in our past. Over the years I have found people from my past that are now part of my present, because I embraced what Joseph Campbell referred to in this quote as the love of your fate:
"Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called "the love of your fate." Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, "This is what I need." It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment-not discouragement-you will find the strength is there. Any disaster that you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow.
"Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You'll see that this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back,
and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes." Joseph Campbell
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