As I about to enter a new decade, I take a deep breath and sit in wonder of the life I have lived up to this point. I cannot believe how many lives I’ve lived within this one life of 70 years. If I look back, I hardly recognize myself. Do you ever feel this way?

I am amused by our necessity to visit our past lives before this life. I spent a lot of time doing that and it was helpful, but only in allowing me to live this life more fully. Now, I can look back on this life here and now and do the same thing. The lessons I’ve learned, the people that have come and gone out of my life, the mistakes I’ve made, the triumphs, the failures – all of it bring me to this present moment. In this present moment, I get to live new. I can take everything that has transpired before this and put it together in a beautiful pie. I can choose the ingredients I want to add to the pie and toss the others aside. I am at choice to grow and expand.

I’m very excited about this next decade of my life. I do not feel morbid about entering my 70th decade; instead I feel enthralled and totally engaged in what is and what is to come. Ernest Holmes, the Founder of the Science of Mind Movement, once wrote that it didn’t matter if we left a legacy when we leave this earth plane, that it didn’t even matter if anyone remembered us at all; it only mattered that we lived fully. I agree with this somewhat, but I also would like to be remembered for having given a little light to the world. When my name is mentioned, I’d like people to remember that they are magnificent and that their life has purpose and meaning beyond the everyday humdrum existence. I think it is okay to want that. I know it helps me when I think of the people who have added light to this world on a large scale and on a small scale. I am inspired by it all, and the size of the life doesn’t matter as much as the actions of that life.

My prayer for all of us is that no matter how old we are, or how many years we have left on earth, that we will totally and completely tap into our inner selves, our God-selves and really let it out in magnificent ways. We matter and what we do here on earth matters greatly right now in this present moment. We do not need to worry about the future. As Dr. Joe Dispenza once said,  “The best way to predict your future is to create it not from the known, but from the unknown. When you get uncomfortable in the place of the unknown – that’s where the magic.”

I’m definitely in the unknown right now, and I can feel the magic. It’s definitely time to start creating.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren, Co-Founding Director CSL Kaua`i and the Institute of Magnificence and Author of “What Do I Need to KNOW? 101 Thoughts That Changed My Life” and “This Thing Called Treatment,” both available on Amazon.