photo credit: KansasPhoto (Patrick)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! My wife and I are winding down celebrating Christmas with our families and looking forward to ringing in the New Year together. It’s a great time for getting inspired, of course – the week of the New Year’s beginning – so I thought I would share with you all an inspiring story I heard recently on NPR. Consider it your NPR Driveway Moment of the week. I know I haven’t kept up with posting them much, but I think you’ll enjoy this one.

Jason Crigler - Hope and Recovery

It is a story about a musician – a New York City guitarist named Jason Crigler – who suffered a brain hemorrhage during a concert in Manhattan in 2004. His wife, pregnant at the time with their first child, and the rest of their family were devastated by the grim prognosis given by Jason’s doctors. Even so, they refused to give up on him, and what ensued was an 18-month odyssey, the vast majority of which, Jason has no memory.

During that time, he spent more than a year in the hospital, but finally, thanks to the dogged hopes of his loved ones, he recovered from his injury. The whole saga is documented in an inspiring film called Life. Support. Music. Hearing this story on the way home from work affected me deeply and reminded me of several things we would all do well to keep in mind during the coming year.

1. Life – particularly a human life – is as precious and multifaceted as the rarest of diamonds. We take far too much for granted, never knowing how much more we will be given. Every moment is a blessing and to pass even the most unpleasant of them without acknowledging its wonder is an opportunity sorely missed when the end draws near. So, don’t sweat the small stuff, as they say, and give thanks for every day.
2. The need for hope and recovery is universal. Whether from a traumatic physical injury, the emotional setbacks of ego-attachment, or from a lifetime of selling yourself short, recovery remains a necessary and ongoing process in everyone’s life. Accept the fact that you can’t go it alone. Embrace the process of recovering your innate flow - physically, relationally, and personally - and know that hope is what moves us all forward in our journeys.
3. Passion is the fire that drives the engines of hope and optimism. This is why it is so important to follow your bliss and to love as much as your heart will allow. If you are passionate about life, if you deeply love those who share life with you, you are more likely to look to your future with a sense of purpose. This sense of purpose translates into a belief that you live in a world of limitless possibilities, and that to sell yourself short is morally reprehensible. With this belief, you will always have hope, even in the darkest of storms.
4. A strong, deeply rooted support network is every bit as important as a robust, healthy environment. Particularly in today’s unstable socio-economic/political climate, a non-toxic emotional ecosystem is of the utmost importance. If families and meaningful friendships evaporate, there will be little left to maintain our collective emotional well-being. Always let your loved ones know they are loved, and never fear forgiveness, for these are the keys to a life well lived.
5. Understanding your True Self unlocks the door to eternal happiness. Things are rarely what they seem to be at first glance, and if you expect them to be such, life is a struggle. However, if you take time to ask yourself the tough questions, to dig deeper than the surface, you can find true contentment. You can free yourself in this way to be whatever it is you are meant to Be, without fear or shame.

I know that’s a lot to take from an 8-minute radio story, but like I said, it affected me deeply. I hope y’all enjoyed this little installment, and as always I would love to here your thoughts in the comments below.

Here’s to a great New Year!

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