Peculiar are those pieces that come together when an unexpected, yet planned event occurs.

It is amazing what light the present can bring to the past. That is, if you can slow yourself down long enough to reflect on the now it will help you piece together why your path has led you here. Like many people, I believe things happen for a reason.

Whether or not you can see it at the time, they do.

Another thing to keep in mind: never allow yourself to be consumed by regret.

All of those blunders and perceived missteps are part of the path that you have walked and continue to walk; the path that finds you here now.

People think certain things happen to divert you from your path – this is not necessarily true. Your path is yours; you cannot divert from it; your path may change, you may not always recognize it, but it is yours. The life you live is the path you walk and like your shadow it follows you everywhere.

We are afraid something terrible will happen if we relinquish any our control or wander too far. Sometimes these seemingly terrible things bring about something good, even great. And sometimes they divert us so that we do not run into the horrendous.

Unfortunately, the intention never matters. People like to yield control because they think they can stop certain things from happening or sway others to bring about what they see as the best outcome.

Often these people confuse control and power.

Me? I prefer to watch things unfold organically.

I find we interfere too often, even in our own lives. We human beings have suddenly adopted this terrible and insatiable need for control.

But I, too, also like control.

As a person living with (type 1) diabetes, a big part of my life is about control (mainly of good blood glucose numbers). But I have learned over the years that control should be something employed sparingly, and it is something that I relearn periodically.

In fact, it may end up being the one of the greatest lessons I (re)learn this year. Letting go of your need for control allows your deepest wants and desires to float to the surface. With nothing left weighing them down, they can gracefully graduate to the surface.

Beware: in control lies judgement and scorn. Release yourself of your own control to discover where it is you really want your journey to go – sometimes having no control allows you to fine tune your wants and needs. Sometimes a lack of control defines these things more clearly. When you cannot place the chess pieces just so anymore the game changes. Suddenly you find you must pay more attention. There is no going through the motions here and that is why people fight so hard to keep that control.

People want a routine so strict it occurs without thought. Sadly, it is in that confinement life is lost. Passion be gone.

No longer worry about where it is you have been and what has happened. Free yourself off the things you have done. Do not judge yourself as you do. We are so much harder on ourselves than we are others and harder still than others are on us.

We are engaged with this idea that everyone is thinking about us and watching us, and they are not. Trust me. People are far, far too consumed with themselves to worry about you like that.

Embrace the freedom you have and walk your way.

You have so much more of your path to explore.

And remember: a soul is a resilient thing.