The other day somebody asked me what I thought my best trait was. The question took me by surprise. Even more surprising was my answer.
Not that it came to me very quickly. I’m probably not the easiest person to get personal information out of, not really, despite the role I play here at GUIDEPOSTS. Because what I do is so public I’ve also learned to be quite guarded.
I’m careful about what comes out of my mouth, even here. My friends say I’ve always been a little elusive like that—that I have a great gift for talking around things when I have to.
Maybe I’m thinking about this more because I am spending this summer writing a book on personal change and in addition to telling what I know about it and recounting incredible and inspiring examples of personal change that I have seen, I’m also talking about my own journey of change, especially those years before I came to GUIDEPOSTS—before GUIDEPOSTS changed my life.
It’s caused me to go back to places that make me very uncomfortable, that frighten me to even remember. But it is also a gift to be here to remember them, to examine in some detail the person I was once and to some extent always will be.
What I’m learning is, you can’t unlive your life. But you can change, you can be transformed in astonishing and miraculous ways. You can be happy.
Looking at myself today I’d have to say that my best trait, if you can call it that, is that I’m still alive. And for that I have far more than myself to be grateful to.
So when I look above Manhattan and see the fireworks explode across the harbor this July 4, I will think about the beauty of life, its unexpected bursts of color and light, especially at one’s darkest moments, and I will know how good it feels to be alive.
How about you? What’s your best trait? Post below. I bet you have one.
Edward Grinnan is Editor-in-Chief and Vice President of GUIDEPOSTS Publications.
