I am in a deeply reflective mood this morning as the beauty of the iphone photo stream held up a picture to me, a picture of my father who is sadly no longer with us.

It is a great picture of my dad and I remember the moment that it was taken with real fondness as my dad was super happy, as always.

He had that way about him, a change agent, someone that lit up a room with positive energy and happiness.

When the picture popped up in my stream, I instantly smiled… I gave out the biggest smile I own, which would have caught the eye of the people sitting near me in the coffee shop where I was getting set to write a whole different blog post.

Honestly, I do hope that my smile and my small chuckle was infectious and they themselves had a little chuckle at me.

How often do we see that in others… they are looking at their phone and they obviously get a text or a picture that makes them blossom, their mood changes and a smile cracks across their face. They are in the moment and as an observer, you wonder…. ‘what caused that, that’s cool, I am happy for them’ and we then also allow a little smile to ourselves.

It’s natural.

The little moment of happiness this morning also made me think about the others that I had seen pass on during my lifetime.

A sister that died in a car crash in the prime of her life, a best friend that passed due to colon cancer a month before his only daughters wedding, a childhood friend that was always so passionate with his advice.

We all have family, friends and acquaintances that we have lost.

It was not a morose moment, not for one second.

It was a moment of celebration in my head because all, each and every one of them left an indelible mark on me and for all of the right reasons.

The impact from the people who have gone from our life and the impression that they have left on us is always a moment of gratitude and reflection and it is wholly worth it to take the time to remember.

This morning, I took a real feeling of joy from the faces that I saw in my minds eye and a warm soulful embrace from their momentary apparition.

This had such a positive impact for me, so much so, that I decided to add in a change to my daily morning journal template…

5 Minute Morning:

• I am grateful for…
• What would make today great?
• Daily affirmation…
• ‘What do I remember about people gone’

The addition, the fourth point here, is not about people who are no longer with us, but it is about everyone that has been in my life and who has now gone…. either through distance, time or circumstance.

It is a time for me to remember the people who I have encountered in my life and what is it that I want to remember about them.

How do I want to remember them and do I want to redraw the narrative now that time has moved on?

I also want to use the moment in the morning to accept the idea that we are all just passing through each others life… and that we should take pause to celebrate everyone who does.

We all influence each other in some way and on some level. Life is fluid.

We should never forget that how we act and how we are, always has an impact on others.

People will remember how you made them feel more than anything else, even after you yourself are long gone…

We should never loose sight of the fact that this precious life that we have always comes to an end at some point.

Keeping this thought at hand can certainly reframe how you might approach life and how you might enjoy the company of others.

“It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth – and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up – that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.”

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

I am clear that I have a limited time left on this mortal coil and I am equally clear that I have no idea how much time remains….

So with that thought, I want to use it for the betterment of others and to get as much enjoyment from each passing moment for myself that I can.

I hope that somewhere along the line, one of these fleeting moments is captured on camera and the picture disappears into a photo stream somewhere, only to be gone but not forgotten.

And then in time…

I hope that one day someone, somewhere sees my picture in a photo stream, long after I am gone and they smile, chuckle and the people around them see that reaction and think…

Good on you, be happy, show it to everyone and don’t dare hold it back…

‘rock that fecking smile..’