Missing

I woke up missing this morning.….  Missing the experience I had a month ago. Missing the experience I had a year ago and two years ago. I miss your voice. I miss my father’s voice and his advice. I miss living in another place.  I miss seeing you…...

Maybe it is just me or it is just being human.  We are constantly reflecting in reverse. How often have you heard that we miss the ‘90’s.  Will Ferrell did an SNL skit with his impression of George W. Bush.  The opening line was how we must miss him in comparison to the liar-in-chief – the Trumpeter.  He goes on to remind us that he was really bad.

 This post is less about missing any one thing or person and more an attempt to re-define missing.   As less of an emotional crisis and more of an opportunity to learn from our past rather than miss it.   Examining what we might have done better rather than assuming it was perfect.  The common approach is to feel sorry for oneself that you missed an opportunity or  a person.  I believe the emotion of missing is calling on you to assess what you could do to improve your present experience.

 Missing is another form of regret and an appeal to be given  the impossible opportunity of another chance – a “do over” .  Missing something  is another form of not accomplishing what we desire now.  The “Monday morning quarterback” as it were.

My hope is that the exercise of missing is metaphorically like reviewing lecture notes in preparation for an exam.  I would like to think that my experience of missing is paying attention to both my mistakes and my accomplishments. Combined  they might help me make my present and future better.  I am attempting to  view my past not as a missed opportunity  but as something I can learn from.

 I miss your voice.  Voices are very important.  I feel a sensitivity to your inflection and your tone.  I love the sound of your voice but am I listening to the words you say?  Was I  listening carefully enough?  Rather than focusing on missing, a better exercise would be to focus on what can be learned.  Thus, providing a platform for listening and being present.

 Emotionally I am confused between missing and learning.  Perhaps you have the same conflict.  For me I am trying to pay attention to the learning that can be offered.   I am paying attention to the why I am missing.  I am acknowledging the benefit of those experiences and applying them to enhance the experience of the present.

Still….….I miss you!