Here is my picture for a "new day" since I start everyday with my coffee. Not fancy coffee, but coffee (to really upset real coffee drinkers, I buy my coffee at Ocean State Job Lots...). So why not use that picture for the new year ahead. I am thinking that I will begin the new year as I have started most of the last 365 days, but I also know that 2007 will include new routines and events that - my hope would be - will work their way to my core being. My challenge is to identify how to make that happen in a way to move my life to a new level of activity and existence. That is my goal each year, but in my heart this year has "the bones" for deeper change because of all that has changed over the last year - but that is just my thinking.
I have checked my weekly (Freewill) and daily (Sally Brompton) and appreciate the astrological support.
December 31, 2006 -- You don't have to play a role or live up to other people's expectations - be yourself and be happy with that. A new year brings the promise of a new beginning but the only thing that needs changing in your life is your tendency to put what others think ahead of what you want to do. Resolve to live free from fear over the coming 12 months. See what a difference it makes.
Week of December 28: According to The Onion newspaper, the Catholic Church has abolished the traditional "blessed" status of the meek. The new official story is that the meek shall not inherit the earth. One Church official was quoted as saying, "Everything about the meek, from their quiet demeanors to their utter lack of can-do spirit, goes against Church philosophy." I can't confirm the accuracy of The Onion's report, but it does underscore a point I want to drive home to you in 2007: It'll be a favorable time for you to get tough with the docile, submissive aspects of your own psyche. Humility's fine; that can stay. But you should take aggressive measures to lose any tendencies you might have to be passive. Capitalize on the fact that events in the coming months will help you tap into reserves of courage that have previously been inaccessible.
Not quite in my "free of fear" stage yet, I finally made my reservations for my Houston trip in a few weeks. (you would have thought I was making a time and financial commitment MUCH greater than its reality based on the time it took me to push "submit" on the Orbitz reservation form...) OKS-TAMU basketball game and to visit people I worked with from 1988-1995. It was a meaty part of my life and it is always good for me to revisit the people who shaped my life during that time. I also will be visiting a friend I have had since 7th grade (one of the sisters of the "sister weekend") and if all the stars align, a friend I met in the Peace Corps in Ecuador who I did not know was in Houston until this year!!! And I have not seen since 1978...That will be gift if that happens.
My next trip will be to North Carolina in February. That will be a little trickier emotionally for me. I think I am missing not living blocks away from the Edwards campaign headquarters (not that I am an Edwards' fan, but just being able to be that close to a presidential campaign). I may also drift into thinking about the money I threw out the window by not being able to just go to work and do what I needed to do to get the paycheck. I may be thinking about what my latest move has accomplished versus what it would have meant to stay. But, what will balance that "what if" is that I know it is my role to do the "travel to" friends that I have left behind in my various moves at the same time knowing that every move has taken me to where I needed to be at any given time. BUT another thing it brings to my mind is that I need to pick one vacation spot this year that is not a "touch back" spot!
I had a great time during the trail clearing work day yesterday with our town's Land Conservation Trust group. I found a place in my town that I never knew existed and will keep it in mind for the summer months to come - the trail "destination" is an incredible stream with great natural swimming holes. It was a great way to spend the morning. It reminded me of the waterscapes near the land we owned for a short time in the hill country of Texas in one of my former lives. Very exciting to find places like that in my life. What is it about water?
Today it will be a quick stop at the parents to carry the lovely artificial tree back down to the basement. I take it down the stairs intact so that next year - "no assembly required" except hang the ornaments. Other than that - it is football, football, and Football Night in America. My kind of New Year's Eve. I was VERY disappointed last night when I realized that ESPN had a monopoly on all the football games INCLUDING the Giants' game - but at least they won. Maybe my "Colts - Giants or Redskins" Super Bowl prediction has some life in it yet IF you forgive my Redskins' inclusion. I will probably cry during the Packers' game today thinking that it might be Favre's last day.
But as I indulge my frivolous side, what really filled my brain yesterday was the execution of Saddam and the funeral of President Ford. 916 men and women killed in the war just in this year and I am supposed to feel that Saddam being executed has "a meaning"? It was not an Iraq action in my mind, but US initiated and supported "theater". Why was this world dictator worthy of execution when so many others just rode off into the exile sunset? Watching the DC Ford funeral last night, I go back to my theme of who is going to replace the men and women we are losing over the last couple of years. it is also incredulous to me that people can just move through a day like yesterday without a pensive moment as to how it changed their life.
Even with that in my mind, I am enjoying my Christmas bounty. I have been putting on quite a show each night with my real and battery operated candles and burning my new candles on my new candelabra. I put my new wreath up on the inside of my front door - it is metal and is made to be able to hold notes or cards. Maybe I can put up affirmations or pictures to remind me of what is really important? I also put it on the inside of the door, because why entertain the neighbors and not myself. I put my new calendar from sister #1 on the outside of my bedroom door (I don't ever close doors inside my house so visibility is never hard based on that and the size of my apartment) so I can see the sayings before I go to bed. And the calendar from sister #3 on my hallway(I only have one hallway) so I can see Peace Flags every day with beautiful pictures of Provincetown as the back drop. I don't know if people are buying my image "makeover" with my Vera Bradley Nantucket Blue bag...but we will see if I fit in better at school once my bag is added to the parade of THOUSANDS of Vera Bradley bags walking around campus! I also wore my "magic scarf" the other day, but between earrings, my glasses hanging around my neck and my jacket - I almost strangled myself trying to stay warm on my walk...I will have to practice a bit or go back to that store in Mystic and have that wonderful sales person do another demonstration! I also think back at my dinner with my brother and his wife and daughters that I was a part of before Christmas and being at my niece's basketball game and I know how lucky I am to be close to them and know that many of my sisters have not been able to spend "non-holiday" time with them. I am a lucky girl on many levels.
I have not made good notes of all the little things that have happened as part of the last week. But what I have noted is that every time I felt I was falling off track, something would happen to bring me back to where I needed my mind to be. As I "de-brief" myself on the holidays, I have thoughts about how I will change my holiday life in 2007, but I will see what the first 11 months of the year bring.
Have a great New Year's Eve. It is going to be a good year. I don't think it can be more dramatic for me than this year has been, but for those who know me...who knows!
No comments:
Post a Comment