I’ve been really busy the past few weeks. There have been highlights (the Sports Dude and I got married), and low-lights (my nanny’s 17-year old granddaughter, Angel, passed away after a long illness). There was the sleepover at Sea World with the Girl Scout Troop. Laser tagging for my daughter’s birthday.

Prince has had a series of concerts in town (I’ve been to two, and planning on going again this Saturday night). Mother’s Day came and went. Oh, and did I mention my job?? We’re getting ready to launch a new blog next week. I have two partners on a road trip of seminars next week. And we’ll have a big announcement, you guessed it, next week. Through all the things I did, there was one thing I did not do. A friend’s daughter has Cystic Fibrosis. She has had a rough year, including 12 days in a coma where there did not seem to be a lot of hope. Claire woke up from her coma and went on trips to Hawai’i and Alaska. And, earlier this month, she had a Flash Mob in Santa Monica to raise money for CF. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naNELFDC2Zg] With Angel’s passing a couple week’s ago, there was a lot of talk in my house about “why?”

• Why was this little girl born sick?
• Why did she have to suffer?
• Why did she have to die?

And then I listened to Claire’s message to us all (watch the embedded video), and I walked away with: “I don’t want to get stuck in the ‘why.’ It’s about the here and now.”

It’s about finding your joy and your purpose in life … no matter what’s thrown in your way. Claire is my hero. My purpose in life? To raise my girls to be incredible young women. To be honest in my actions, and happy in my spirit. To live a life with purpose and meaning. To embrace the love of those around me, and give it back 10-fold. To bring to this world my best, and take from it the least. To walk through tough and challenging times with dignity and grace. My joy? I find it in the simple things. A goofy smile from my child. A mother’s day breakfast in bed with homemade cards. Saying “I do” with tears of laughter streaming down my face. To quote Gwen Stefani:

And all I wanted was the simple things A simple kind of life

I don’t know about you, but I think we professionals (read “me”) get caught up in the muckity-muck of our lives. The things. The prestige. The salaries. We get to the point where our lives become too complicated for the simple things in life. Over the past five years or so, I’ve taken a journey backwards in so many ways. I’ve had to roll back my life to find out what’s really important to me, and make sure that it is first and foremost in my life every day. Our lives are too short to forget to have fun and enjoy. We can sit and wonder “Why?” until we are so depressed that we cannot get out of bed. Or, we can find joy in the moment we have right now, even if life sucks around us.