We don't arrive at a good life, then live in it. We create and re-create … a good life over a lifetime. This is the work of the soul, the process of awakening to our purpose. When we are awake to our own unique life purpose, our preferences, our common annoyances or desires, all fade in light of the deep knowing of what is purposeful.

… Our travelers (passengers, first responders, friends and family, witnesses) have been passionately engaged in this search for purpose. … Let's visit some of the key qualities that they have taken ownership of as they came back from the brink of death. … Each of us can open the door that allows us to nurture these qualities in ourselves and in our world.

Faith
… Faith sustained many, if not most of the passengers on Flight 1549 during the crash landing, in those minutes where death seemed inevitable, and in the miraculous days, weeks and months that followed. … Faith in God, in the universe, in our fellow beings, in ourselves … this large faith invites us into many more qualities, each one a part of the path to purpose.

Gratitude
… Whether in children or adults, the simple expression of gratitude uplifts the spirits of giver and receiver. And yet, especially in difficult times … it is often our default pattern to notice what we don't have, what we aren't getting. …To find gratitude in the midst of hardship, loss, fear and doubt is to claim the deepest gratitude for this very life, just as it is in this moment.

Love
… Love is not something we study. It is something we are. … We love others in their humanness, which means we love them with all their faults and imperfections. And that is a lesson we learn from passengers who, facing the loss of those they loved, learned to love them all the more and accept them all the more fully.

But love is not just an inner experience. It is also an expression, behavior and action. Risking yourself to save another in a crisis is an act of love. Saying “I love you” is too. Our travelers … have come to see just how important it is to say “I love you” in words and in deeds.

Wisdom
If love stirs the heart, wisdom stirs the mind. And we need both for a good life. It is in our wisdom that we know what is right for us, what is true, what makes sense. Allowing ourselves to claim our own wisdom and to build wisdom over a lifetime will strengthen our character ... Whether our wisdom in any moment is common wisdom or spiritual wisdom, it is our North Star, the guiding light that helps us find the way.

… Our travelers were thrown into a life-and-death situation out of which a wider vision emerged. They found wisdom in the moment of danger and they built on that foundation to go on to live wiser lives. When the stakes are that high, priorities change. But we needn't wait for that kind of crisis to become wise. All it takes, really, is remembering what our highest values are, where our priorities lie, who we deeply are and want to be.

Healing
For our passengers, the journey of healing was launched by a moment of facing almost certain death. For most of us, the injury is usually less dramatic. … Healing is a total experience in which mind, body, emotions and spirit all renew themselves. … Many of the surviviors of Flight 1549 are practicing patience. … In the end, healing is no more than the process of life and no less than our greatest achievement.

… Healing is a gift we give to ourselves, first by knowing that we are hurt and second by honoring ourselves enough to heal consciously.

Transformation
We understand, through our travelers, that life itself is a miracle. They learned this the hard way. … Transformation is visible all the time: the bud of a new flower, the sun rising in the east, a child's first steps. Magic! The plane that lands in the Hudson, the lives that are saved, the hard work that follows for each and every passenger—transformation!

… The travelers from Flight 1549 can serve to remind us at every turn that life is a miracle, that there is a time and a place to learn and to heal, and that sharing the gifts we are given is one of the most profound ways of awakening to purpose.


 

Learn more about the Brace for Impact event at Unity Village on May 13, 2010.