Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. James Baldwin

Change comes whether we are ready for it or welcome it. How many young people who just finished competing in the winter Olympics have choices to make? Do they spend four years trying to compete in the next Olympics, or do they chart a new course?

Sometimes we welcome change, and sometimes we dread it, but it is coming. Spring follows winter, and winter follows fall. We might have been happy in a stage of our lives coming to a close, and worry about what the next stage will bring.

There’ll be good days, bad days, happy and sad days in every life, no matter whether we are in our first, second, or third act.

Do we get out and face life head-on, or pull the covers over our heads, hoping we won’t have to face whatever is? How do we handle it when the diagnosis isn’t what we’d hoped? The economy takes a turn when we thought we’d finally begin to see some prosperity. We’re getting ready to go back to the gym when something else lays us low, and we have to put it off for at least another few days.

What is the perfect amount of challenge to have in our lives? What is the perfect amount of change? My son and his wife celebrated the Chinese New Year with his wife’s family. The Fire Horse is said to bring change, and the last time we were in a Fire Horse year was 1966. Is it helpful to look for cycles to help us get through life?

Many things are beyond our control, and how we look at what we must face might be the only control we have. When faced with a pile of horse manure, do we only see what is in front of us, or do we think there must be a pony here somewhere?

Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. Nido Qubein

I’d like to think I’m someone who always sees the bright side, but I don’t think I always do. Keeping a journal helps me to sort things out; sometimes I don’t know what I’m thinking until I write it down.

I started a journal because my grandmother, whom I never met, kept one. She lived through two world wars, the Spanish Flu, and raised children during the Great Depression. She lived from 1900 to 1953, what a time to live. She didn’t get to the years of peace and plenty. We have people in the World today hoping to someday live in peace and plenty, are those of us fortunate enough to live in peace and plenty grateful enough?

When our big decisions are whether to paint the bedrooms White Opulence or White Dove, we might be living a blessed life. If where our grandson will start school is a decision and most of the choices are pretty good, we might be blessed. If getting to the gym, but not a doctor, is on our to-do list, we might be blessed. If we wrestle with what to do in retirement, what neighborhood to live in, or where to travel, we might be blessed.

Is the cup half full or half empty? If we put a positive spin on something, does it make it better? Can we be grateful for what we have, even if we aren’t completely content?

We know what we are, but know not what we may be. William Shakespeare.

The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. Albert Einstein

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. Abraham Lincoln

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Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle

When we hear children’s words, do we sometimes wonder where they heard that? If we know it first came from us, we might be happy if it sounds good, or look for somewhere to hide, especially if it is in public. “Give me a child until he is seven, and I will show you the man”. Is this a Jesuit Motto or a quote by Aristotle adopted by the Jesuits?

It is scary to think we only have a few years to help a child become who they will be. We don’t consider them adults until eighteen, but the foundation for their lives is set much earlier.

Yesterday, my three-year-old grandson invited his mother to eat potato chips with him and his dad. “I don’t like this flavor,” she said.

“We get what we get, and we don’t get upset,” my grandson said to his mother, or something similar. In life, we often get what we get, and getting upset doesn’t make a difference. Sometimes we must accept circumstances as they are, sometimes we can change them, and knowing which is which might make all the difference. We need to know when to work for change and when to accept what can’t be changed, and if we can tell the difference between the two, the impact on our lives will be immense.

How often do we rail against the things we can’t change while living with things we can change that would make a big difference in our lives? How often have we heard, “Clear the clutter, and clear your mind?” How often do we find someone’s life descends into chaos as their surroundings do? Which comes first, and if we can keep clutter from taking over our lives, can we deal with the slings and arrows that come with life?

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. Henry Ford

We might not like the action we need to take in our lives, but if we know it needs to be done, we may as well get to it. If we pull the covers over our heads instead of getting up and getting busy, it leads to feeling worse, instead of better. The longer we take to do what we know we need to do, the worse things get. Sometimes we have to change what we can, and sometimes we have to accept what we can’t, but either way we have to move forward.

I think of the choice Mom and Dad made after Dad lost most of his right hand in a farm accident. Until that happened, I don’t think they considered leaving the farm, but by accepting their new reality, they had a different retirement than they might have expected, and I think it was a pretty good one.

We probably all have some things in our lives we wish were different, but have no power to change. We have choices to work around what we can’t change, and is this where our power lies? If we accept the things we can’t change, and change the things we can, how will it impact our lives? As my grandson told me when I was peeling wallpaper, “Don’t give up”. Eventually, the wallpaper was removed; it seemed daunting to attempt, but now it feels like an accomplishment. Getting started was half done, as it is in many cases, when we finally tackle things we’ve been putting off.

What would make a big change in our lives, how long would it take, and what would it add to our lives?

Tomorrow becomes never. No matter how small the task, take the first step now. Tim Ferris

Do. Or do not do. There is no try. Yoda

If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse. Jim Rohn

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts, click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item, I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.