Touching the Lives of Others

This morning, I went to two yoga classes. In my first class, we were to focus on one thing that we really wanted. My focus was confidence. I wanted confidence in myself for the things I did. I wanted to be confident that I was helping others and making a difference. We were to focus on our breath, and I had a small breakthrough. The way I was breathing, it was like a V. I inhaled into the point of the V and exhaled out in a broader breath. It made me think that with my confidence, it starts with me, and spreads out to others. That thought spread into my next class.

I try to stay as zen as possible before and after yoga. I went to sleep pretty early, woke up at 6:20 and didn’t get home until noon. So between 10pm and noon, I didn’t look at social media at all. I just so happened to check Facebook and found out devastating news. A young lady I went to high school with passed away last night. Loriana was a beautiful, sweet person. We were acquaintances, and I was younger than her, but she was still extremely nice to me. She was known for her amazing singing talent, and was not only a local celebrity, but was coming up in the entertainment business.

To hear about Lori’s passing was depressing. I’m hurting to hear about her passing. Seeing all the people who are hurting over her death makes me realize how much of an impact she had on not just my life, but on so many others. Classmates are sad, neighbors are upset, teachers are distraught. I hope she’s able to see the footprint she left here.

This brings me back to my mini-breakthrough in yoga class. Lori had confidence. She always appeared very sure of herself, sure of her talents, comfortable in her skin. That’s what I admired about her, and no doubt that’s what others liked about her too. I would love to exude the same confidence in myself. Not an arrogance, and not quite pride, but simply confidence in yourself and what you’re doing. I’m going to work on building that up. I believe Lori has left a legacy and it’s our job to take the lead.

How have you touched the lives of others? Photo is of Loriana, also known as Alori Joh.