Wow! A New Year

A new beginning. Yet again. Year after year a new one begins. New chance to experience new things. Mostly, though, they are old things wrapped in glittery paper.

Peat and repeat. Do it again. And again.

Cycles of life lived through many intersecting lives take on routine soon enough. Do we see each thing as new? Do we realize the fresh opportunity to change outcome? Do we dare to treat it that way?

Doing the familiar is comfortable. We may regret the old outcomes and expect them to repeat endlessly. Breaking from comfort is not easy, but it may just yield different results.

Try it. At least a little bit. Make this year something different from past expectations. Dare to be adventurous. Watch for the results. Can I be something else that I prefer? Do I have what it takes to succeed at this else?

Only one way to find out. Push the envelope, do something different and observe results. Do it again. And again. Notice the changes taking place? Large or small they are different results from what we had in the past. This is change, both the face and the reality of it.

Inviting others to join you in this endeavor will spread the courage. And adventure. No telling the results, of course, but you can dare to define the hopes in the group, can’t you? Reaching forward to tickle the possibility of changing an outcome to mirror our hope?

One person at a time or one small group at a time, we build the future. We learn how to do it. Only by attempting it do we learn. Not from someone else’s effort, but from our own. And only then if we pay attention and measure the change.

It doesn’t take much intelligence to note the current status of the world. Of our nation. Or state. Or region. Things could be a lot better. They will not improve if we are not involved in the solution. Being involved in the victimhood is not enough. Defining a better outcome is the start of opportunity. Working toward that outcome helps knit the path we follow. Others follow. We feel together the value of the attempt. Is the outcome what we expected? Could it be better? Are we moving in the right direction?

So many tiny bits and pieces of this. But they do gather to become the whole of the result. If it is positive, we work for more of the same. The change this once can then be extended and continued. A new routine, a process is noticed and repeated. We gather the steam that keeps the momentum going.

Yes. The future, whatever it will be, takes the shape of what we hope for only if we get involved in making it happen. Changing my own habits is a small start. But it takes more.

Reach. Do more. Let us own the future we need to happen. For us and others. Only then can we truly utter the words, Happy New Year!

January 1, 2024

 

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