WHAT'S LEFT AT THE END OF A DAY

"Fall seven times, stand up eight." ~Japanese Proverb~

It's too easy to take out our exhaustion on the people we love the most. We give our best and our brightest to work and society and have nothing left but emotional dregs for our families. Let's bring awareness to this tendency and save a bit of our best selves for our wives and husbands and children. Let's not make them settle for whatever remains of our energy and spirit at the end of a long day. Let's treat them to the same kindness and care that we give to strangers and clients and bosses and friends.

I save some of my best self for the people I love.

BEING THE LIGHT

"There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."

 ~Edith Wharton ~

What we celebrate this time of year is not only Christmas, but Winter Solstice. These are the shortest days of the year. The cycle of light is limited. I leave home and return in the dark. But soon, on December 21st, the light begins to return and to stretch a bit longer each day.
     Perhaps, in this dark time of year, we are meant to be and create the light we lack. We can bring it forth in the form of smiles and good nature and Christmas lights and music and decorations and kindness. Let's agree to spread the light that's missing from the earth. Let's be bright and cheery and twinkly and alive. Let's be sunshine to others. Let's be sunshine to ourselves.

In these short, dark days, I commit to being bright.

SELF-HONESTY

"A half-truth is a whole lie."

~Yiddish Proverb~

It's easy to believe whatever we choose to tell ourselves. We do it with alacrity. We lie to ourselves about how much we are actually eating, how hard we are working, how much sleep we need, our motivations and manipulations- all kinds of things. No one is more surprised than we are that we are over-weight, tired, suspected of wrongdoing, or whatever it may be. We are endlessly innocent in our own eyes.
     Let's get honest and become willing to change. The causes of our less-than-perfect life circumstances are right in front of us if we will only look at them. Let's stop pretending and fabricating and turning a blind eye.

I am willing to be honest about the facts, whatever they may be.

MAKING LIFE COUNT

"A life without cause is a life without effect."
~Barbarella~

We settle for so much less than we could be, or than we could have, or than we could experience. We live small and contained lives. We whine away our days and years in mediocrity and the status quo.
     Let's not! Let's go for it. Let's take risks and live from our hearts and our guts. Let's be and experience all that we are capable of being and experiencing. Let's leave fear and self-defeating thoughts and behaviors behind and move into the territory of extraordinary living and all that is possible.

I grow my life in depth and span and do not shrink in fear.

ADVENT

"Remember

This December

That love weighs more than gold!"

~Josephine Bacon~

The advent comes and goes in a blur because we fill it with busyness and stress and obligation and anxiety. Let's slow down and ease up. Let's enjoy each day and each moment and each experience. The season is sweet, but we have to become aware enough to savor it. If we choose not to savor it, it will over-fill us like a meal gulped in large bites, and we will be left sickly-full, but unsatisfied.
     Christmas is a rare delicacy to be enjoyed with care, not consumed in haste like a Big Mac and Fries.

I welcome and respect the delicacy of the holiday season, and do not consume any part of it with greed.

SOAKING UP GOOD THINGS

"Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day."

~Unknown~

We are genetically programmed to be on the lookout for danger and conflict. The age-old fight or flight response is a fundamental operational principle within us. We have a tendency to experience good things fleetingly while we hook into negative experiences and lodge ourselves there at the ready- to defend ourselves, to strike out, to retreat.That's our natural instinct and inclination, so it takes effort and practice and mindfulness to program ourselves to absorb the good in life.
     It's a learned behavior to take in life's blessings and simple pleasures fully so let's learn it. Let's get in the habit of savoring positive happenings like sustenance and water, for that, in truth, is what they are.

I make it a daily practice to let good experiences linger within me and absorb into my soul.

LINGERING FIRE

"Each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor."

~Edgar Allen Poe~

Sometimes we know things are over but it takes us a while before we are willing to move on. We linger and loiter and look around- making sure it's really a done deal.
     By the time we are completely ready, no embers remain. We have usually worn the fire completely out before we will step away and stop trying to make it keep us warm.

I open to the possibility of change.