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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