2020

Happy New Year to all. I have chosen the word "positive" to focus on for the coming year. I think of myself as pretty positive, but I have a nasty habit of seeing what's wrong rather than what's right more often than I wish. I don't want to be Pollyanna nor to just white wash things with positivity. But, I do want to focus on the positive qualities of other people, situations, opinions etc. And, certainly I want to curb my habit of speaking negatively about people and situations. It's a worthy goal in any case! I suggest you choose a word as a North Star for you in 2020. It's just a good way to keep your ship sailing in the direction you want to go!

I read something on Facebook that I think might be a good practice. You make an envelope and write 2020 on the outside. Inside the envelope, you place 52 small pieces of paper. Each week, you decide what was the most enjoyable thing that occurred during the week and you write that out on one of the slips of paper and tuck it in the envelope. Next New Year's Eve, you open the envelope and read all the wonderful things you experienced in the last year.

I wish you a wonderful year of joy, reflection, spiritual deepening and peace.

January First

Though we greet it

with kisses and champagne,

the new year arrives equally

to those who toss in their sleep,

to the blinking blue light

on the computer and to

the chewed end of a pencil stub,

to tropical rainforest and to

Antarctica. Nothing we do

can deserve or delay

the turn of the year.

We bow down before

this particular turn full of

resolve and optimism.

This blank white day

that falls like snow

covering the too-filled

calendar pages of last year.

May we bless empty pages

new beginnings, as we are given

yet another chance

to begin again.

~ Penny Hackett-Evans