Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Out With the Old, In With the New

A lot of New Year posts and comments fall into one of two themes: 2012 was great, and 2013 will be even better! Or: I sure hope 2013 is better than last year! To me, neither one is the right way to look at things.

Were there bad things in the past year? Sure, both on a world, national, local, and personal level. But bad stuff happens everywhere, every year. There were also good things, and people, and events to be grateful for, and to remember with great joy.

The problem with saying "The year was" or "The year will be" is that it puts the emphasis on the wrong thing. It's not the year that makes things good or bad. One year is not necessarily better than another, in the longer view of things. It's our perception that gives makes it so, that gives it power, if you will. We need to spend more time just being, here and now, and less worrying and dissecting whether it will be "good" or "bad" at the end of the year. Enjoy this moment, this person, this place. Is tomorrow going to be better? I don't know. I also don't know if the coming year is going to be better. What I do know, is that if I look at it from a strict good or bad position, I'm going to miss a lot of little things that I shouldn't let slip by. So that's what I'm going to try to do in this coming year:

Enjoy each moment for what it is.
Notice the small things.
Listen more- not just to other people, but to the silence, and try to hear the message there.
Do the best I can, and be the best I can.

If I can do that, then I think it will, no matter the individual things that happen, be a very good year.

And I hope you have a very good year, also!

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