HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"There are those who try to bottle the old year for safekeeping but at midnight the cork always pops." 

~ Terri Guillemets ~

I love this day, this beginning, this fresh page!

I love the opportunity to set intentions,

To let go of the past,

And look to the months ahead with hope and courage.

It's time to chart a course, and get the boat out of the harbor.

It's time to make headway.

It's time to set the sails and welcome whatever weather comes.

I celebrate the new year with happy anticipation!

2018

"Hope and faith flower from the cheerful seeds of the old year to the sprouting garden of the new year's dawn." 

~ Terri Guillemets ~

It's coming and can't be stopped. Let's welcome it and live it with grace every step of the way.

I step joyfully into the new year!

ROOTS

"Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again." 

~ Menachem Mendel Schneerson ~

I am the mother of twins, and today is their 23rd Birthday. I honor and acknowledge the brightness and artistic gifts of my daughter, Sienna, and the steady drive and intelligence of my son, Nick.
     We've been through it all together- the ups, the downs, the round and rounds. We've filled and emptied of fear, explored possibility, and traveled the difficult road of emotional turmoil. We've laughed and cried and been fully human every step of the way.
     Birthdays are a milestone. They end something and begin something. They are a day to celebrate, a day to reflect, and a day to connect. We share roots, these two young adults and I; we share history, we share the importance of this day, and we share the journey we will travel together into the unknown future.

I celebrate the primal family connection! 

THE YEARLY CYCLE

"Nature is new every morning, but its cycles are ancient, independent of all our anxieties, oblivious to our plans." 

~ Barbara Cawthorne Crafton ~

The cyclical nature of life makes it rhythmically beautiful. Here we are again, another year along, moving towards 2018 filled with hope and possibility. This year's Christmas tree is starting to lose it's magic, and the freshness of a new beginning awaits.

I stand in the grateful space between the year that has passed and the one to come. 

IDENTIFYING EXPECTATIONS

"Among the decay of expectations and the mangled relics of happiness, hope blossoms and shines at once a flower and a star." 

~ Henry James Slack ~

Historically speaking, I set myself up for disappointment by wanting this week to be something special, by wanting it to be cozy, relaxing, restorative, and filled with love. Instead of letting it be whatever it is, I measure it against some internal standard that is based on a kind of Norman Rockwell feeling.
     This year, I'm willing to let my expectations go, to hear the wannabe stories in my head and not buy into them; to be free to enjoy the unique, one-of-a-kind experiences that each moment brings.

I open to the freshness of this day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

"Let it be." 

~ The Beatles ~

Letting this day show up however it does is a challenge. We have so many ideas and longings. We want people to feel the love and thoughtfulness in the presents we have chosen, to be happy, to be at peace, and we want to be happy and at peace ourselves.
     And yet, the trail of past years haunts us. We are profoundly aware of those who are missing. We try not to compare to other Christmases, but can't help ourselves. And the day passes as it always does, mixed with beauty and a sense of loss.
     Let's be clear with ourselves this year that Christmas doesn't have to be anything. It can simply be what it is.

I welcome the day as it comes. 

LET THE MAGIC BEGIN

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!" 

~ Hamilton Wright Mabie ~

If we open to it, whether we celebrate Christmas or not, we can enjoy the coming quiet. We can indulge in the closing of places that are not usually closed, the sense of suspended activity, the imagined happiness of children and families as they celebrate, and the nostalgia of all who feel sadness this time of year.
     There's a magic to it... if we allow it in, and a wonder, and a spirit of something that is not usually there.

I welcome the energy of silent stillness.

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air." 

~ WT Ellis ~

Just a few more days now until Christmas- a time for thoughtfulness- and yet we so often become frantic and impatient the closer it gets. We can become rushing and grabby, in traffic as well as in stores, trying to get ours. It rather misses the point.
     Let's bring extra love and patience to the world at this time. The world needs it, and so do our families, and our communities, and the beating hearts within us.

I bring love and patience to the season.

CURLING WOODSMOKE

"The fire is as well for cheerfulness as for warmth and dryness." 
~ Henry David Thoreau ~

Having a hearth-fire is a cheery deliciousness. It makes life feel rich. It closes us in together, warms the house, and exudes a sense of well-being. And it smells good outside too! There's nothing like the combination of wood smoke and crisp air.
   

I celebrate the sensuous delight of a fire crackling in the fireplace.

LIGHT

"May the blessing of Light be on you, light without and light within." 

~ Irish Blessing ~

We are approaching the shortest day of the year, ending one cycle and beginning another. This is the time for being home, for being cozy, for sharing intimately with those we love and care about the most. Even amidst the Holiday parties and festivity, it's an inward kind of time. And we are held in that space until the year ends.
     And then, with the lengthening days, we start to expand again like the light. We are made new and open into 2018 with fresh vision and a bundle of hope.

I live in alignment with the light. 

COMPUTER FRUSTRATIONS

"The problem with trouble shooting is that trouble shoots back." 

~ Author Unknown ~

For all the ways they serve us, computers can be frustrating when they don't do what we want them to do, when they don't cooperate, when they lose our work, and when we can't figure them out for anything. It's a feeling unlike any other- a kind of helplessness and disbelief.
     So how should we handle it when the tension mounts in this way? The tendency is to try anything and everything and twist ourselves into knots trying to figure it out, but the healthier response may be to walk away for a bit, to get into nature, and come back fresh, with a new perspective. Being too close to anything makes it impossible to see.

When I find myself getting frustrated with technology, I take a technology break. 

MONEY

"Inflation hasn't ruined everything. A dime can still be used as a screwdriver." 

~ H Jackson Browne Jr ~

Money is a touchy subject. It feels BIG- bigger than it really is, and the state of our finances, the amount in our bank account, the dues that we owe- these things seem like they could almost topple us over when they're not as we want them to be. We argue with our partners. We fill with fear, and let it creep through us. We equate our personal value with our net worth. And all for what?

     Let's let money be money. Let's trust that we are enough, that we have enough, and that we need far less than we think we do. We have survived thus far, and that's more than something. We are flexible, creative, and durable to the core.

I have what I want, and more than I need. 

HOOKED

"Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other." 

~ C.P. Snow ~

We have become so dependent on our technology. God forbid we leave our phone at home- can you imagine being without it for a day? Or something goes wrong with our computer and it won't function as it should. We hardly know what to do. We can't work. We can't communicate. We are utterly at a loss.
     And yet, it wasn't so long ago when we didn't have cell phones or computers and we all got along just fine, and maybe life was even simpler. For all the advantages of technology, it does rob us of something tranquil, and a certain stillness and space that used to be there and is now ever-filled. So while gratitude for our gadgets is appropriate, giving ourselves permission to leave them for a while is equally so, and may, perhaps, make for a richer life where we see people in a way we haven't for a quite some time.

I indulge regularly in breaks from technology. 

THE SHUFFLE

"You've got to know when to hold them, and know when to fold them..." 

~ Kenny Rodgers ~

Life delivers up all kinds of experience. We are satisfied, challenged, tested, rewarded, frustrated, exonerated, and left hanging. To be able to experience whatever there is to experience without angst is an art of the highest form, something to work towards, and something to experiment with. If we can roll with the punches as they come, and not explode our egos when we have success, then we are rich and rewarded indeed.

I play the cards life deals me. 

SIMPLE WISDOM

"My soul lives somewhere between silence and the moon." 

~ Terri Guillemets ~

Relieve tension with surrender, impatience with compassion, insistence with acceptance, and anger with love.

I live by spiritual principles. 

ACHES AND PAINS

 "The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep." 

~ Rumi ~

When we resist our aches and pains, they overtake us. Wanting to fix them, wanting them to go away as if by magic and feeling irritated that they do not go away serves us not at all. Let's allow what is to be. Let's relax into it and say ok. Let's stop fighting, stop resisting, and see what opens up.

I stop fighting and accept what is. 

IT CAME TO PASS

"Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed." 

~ Irene Peter ~

What's the nature of our unhappiness when it pops up? Is it legitimate, understandable, justified? Is it real, or just a condition of our mood? Is it something we have the power to transform? In the moment? In the big picture? Through our faith?
     Generally, we accept the way we feel as absolute, and sometimes it most definitely seems that way... but is it really? Whether we try to fix it or not, doesn't it always eventually pass?

I am grateful for the impermanent nature of all things.

STANDING AND SITTING STILL

"Why be given a body if you have to keep it shut up in a case like a rare fiddle?" 

~ Katherine Mansfield ~

Standing for long periods of time is as challenging for the body as sitting. Relief comes in movement. Our muscles and joints like to flex and contract and stretch and bend. That's what they're built for. They like to play!
     So let's balance moving with being still, and living vibrantly with a good night of sleep. Let's balance standing with stretching, and dancing around the table with sitting down to eat.

Our bodies feel best when we move them! 

UNDERSTANDING WHAT MATTERS

"Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!" 

~ Albert Einstein ~

This Christmas will be the first in 23 years that I have not spent with my children, and realizing that yesterday walking through a parking lot, I felt a wash of sorrow and loss- a great missing. I know that it's ok. I know that they are adults now, that they will be together, that it's just another day, and life will go on.
     Nonetheless, even knowing all that, I feel sad for it.
     We've had some challenging Christmases in the past so I thought it might be a relief to keep it simple this year and do our own thing, and now that I'm too far away to even make it an option, I realize how flippant I was about something immeasurably valuable, and primal, and deep.

I honor, acknowledge, and appreciate the irrepressible bond of family.

CONSIDERING SUCCESS

"Try to discover 

The road to success

And you'll seek but never find,

But blaze your own path

And the road to success

Will trail right behind."

~ Robert Brault ~

Perhaps success is different than we think it is. Maybe it's not something to strive for, but something that we already are. And maybe it has nothing to do with material achievement or recognition, and everything to do with courage, and compassion, and loving presence.
     It's a different experience to come from a position of success, instead of constantly pushing our way towards it. Relaxation and appreciation start to show up, and a genuine sense of authenticity, and unshakable confidence, from the tip of our toes up.

I consider the possibility that I am already a success. 

GNAWING AT THE PAIN

"Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies." 

~ Erich Fromm ~

Our German Shepherd has arthritis in his knee, and chewing on it seems to make him feel better, but when he does that it creates an open sore, so, it's likely not the best solution. And yet, don't we all do that?
     It feels satisfying somehow to gnaw away at whatever's uncomfortable, to bring attention to it, to constantly lick and bite at it in an effort to make it go away. But it doesn't go away. Approaching it this way only makes it bigger and more uncomfortable. So what's the answer?
     Address the issue in the healthiest way possible, seems to me- take progressive action if that's an option, do what we can to promote correction and reconciliation, and then leave it alone.

In challenging situations, I do what I can, and then stop.