I feel like I am back.
In old cartoons or graphics, the coming New Year was always represented by a baby in a top hat and diaper, while the Old Year was represented by an old man leaving the room. I would like that old man to stay in the room for a minute or maybe two. A new year inherently makes us optimistic and implies that we have a fresh start. I will admit it is a standard line of thinking for me and plants a "new" perception in my mind. However, the perception may not be reality. The New Year baby does not clean your plate for you. My take is the New Year tends to just spin my plate around and I begin eating from the other side. The problem "meal" still has to be consumed. I tend to change the "angle of the cut" from the other side of the plate. I try slicing it differently hoping it will chew easier or taste better.
"The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem." - Theodore Rubin
I need the old year to sit down and review where I went wrong and were I went right. Don't leave just yet. Did I too often bemoan my failures and languish in the aftermath? The "Old Years", like old folks are treated as elderly burdens as opposed to being treated as "elders", influential members of a tribe or a community that can oddly enough reveal a few apparent truths. I took a moment to think about the lessons learned in 2010 and the bruises that only "holy" mercurochrome could heal. The old year explained that “He was preparing me for something I would not be able to handle” otherwise.
"When we see ourselves in a situation which must be endured and gone through, it is best to make up our minds to it, meet it with firmness, and accommodate everything to it in the best way practicable. This lessens the evil, while fretting and fuming only serves to increase your own torments." -- Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President
There are times when we are thrust into situations that cannot be avoided. The "situation must be endured". The trick is to realize that it is a must and not a maybe. Character and discernment will help you decide and decide you must. If it is unavoidable, give it the resources that are needed (mind and body) to complete it. The process will allow you to grow. Fretting and fuming only makes your valley walk longer and more complicated and it ultimately stifles positive energy and mountain climbing strength.
At times 2010 felt like a valley walk for me. I know believe it was a walk of preparation for me not only in the New Year, but maybe years to come. I came out and “I don’t look like what I been through”…
Take a moment with the “old man”. The “elder years” may offer truths for the New Year(s) to come…
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