New Year’s resolutions
came up as my daughter and I visited.
Neither of us has resolutions to make (or
break) as we compared notes.
Maybe this means we’ve
learned from experience (also called “the hard way”) that resolutions can be
tough to keep.
Commit to what you intend
to do puts a price tag on resolutions we give our names to.
Resolutions ask honesty of
us to stay in the running. Yearly intentions aren’t for wimps.
Resolutions aren’t keen on our tendency to look for wiggle room on ideas that sounded good but come with snags in the execution
thereof.
This year my daughter and I are
off the hook as far as resolutions. Nevertheless it’s well to approach January more
specifically than other months.
January is symbolic of all the new starts or
renewed intentions there are to make. It's the canvas on
which we establish the designs that become the signature of our new year.
Common
sense tells us we should do more with a fresh start than simply celebrate beforehand on New Year’s
Eve.
My plan is to take insights
gained this year as advice for mindful living in 2014.
When we’re mindful of
some lesson learned, and apply its wisdom to present circumstances, or lay it
carefully aside for the future, we create a fund of personal wealth which is
sure to pay ongoing dividends.
Each new year becomes richer for what we collect
along the way. We change by what we change. We change, as well, by what we let ourselves be changed.
The notations below,
entered into my personal journal over the course of 2013, are among insights
that will cross over to 2014 with me.
It’s amazing what someone
else’s interests can do for your own.(January 2013)
Tend to what
matters.(January 2013)
It takes action to get
action.(January 2013)
Risk often gives way to
reward.(April 2013)
How you do things says a
lot about how you regard things.(April
2013)
Open your heart to those
who value it.(May 2013)
Experience leads us to
new places.(May 2013)
You always see something
interesting when you travel a new road.(June 2013)
Your dreams are the
future but it’s the present where you have to be.(August 2013)
Often it’s the small
things we remember the longest and with deepest appreciation. (October 2013)
Luck is sometimes crazy
good fortune. Luck can be like that. It’s just as apt to happen when you lay
the foundation for it. Luck likes it when you’re prepared for it.(November 2013)
Live the moment, let the
hard days pass, expect good ahead and always appreciate the time given to you.(December 2013)
Now here’s where I may be
showing I’m behind times. Perhaps this color thing is in place already.
Maybe some Pantone-like color choice for each
month has long been in existence. If so this is the cue for me to say Oh
excuse me, and whistle my way offscreen.
If a color scheme for
each month hasn’t been devised, however, let’s get going.
Just as a month has a
birthstone and zodiac sign it might as well also have a color assigned it as
part of the package deal.
With this in mind it
seems to me that December, of all its confreres, has dibs on the color blue.
Deep blue, midnight blue,
cobalt blue, all shades of blue fit with December.
December is frosty blue skies, blue fingertips and mountainsides of blue spruce mantled with snow.
Its color of blue is also the aquamarine of tropical seas.
There are no coastal shores here but they're our December getaways. They're right up there with hot toddies for easing seasonal aches.
It's sufficient evidence to second the motion that December and blue go hand in (blue suede) glove.
For those who need more convincing consider blue in other December formats.
Indigo blue dusk blooms in the withdrawal of each short winter day. The indigo hue, which spreads and intensifies with dark, is a tint of blue I propose be given a name, December Sunset.
December dusk quiets the day. Vast blue shadows of snowy ground merge into chilled inky blue silence.
Night's metallic
blue glitter is equally a December color.
Through frosted windows, or stamping numb
toes in lined boots in the crunchy snow, we gaze up in wonder at stars piercing
with light the cerulean field above our heads.
The color blue is the
festive color of the December holidays. It’s a primary color we choose for gift wrap, ribbon
and bows.
It’s the blue bulbs in sets of colored Christmas tree lights. They merrily
twinkle or glow as if under a lampshade under a coating of new snow.
It's pale blue candles
which rest in greenery on our fireplace mantels. It's designer blue, in all its range of shades, which is a current color trend in
party wear.
It’s the rich royal blue of cashmere pashimas we fling fashionably
around our shoulders as we step into our round of December events.
This time of year, for a
multitude of reasons, can bring a person down. “I feel blue,” we say.
The holidays can trigger flashbacks to a time
when we were little and life was secure, as it can appear without a doubt as
we look back.
Comparisons between then and now can lead to a blue outbreak. It may be a fleeting thing. It can sometimes persist through the holidays.
At this time we remember loved ones no longer with us. Each grieves in a personal way. Loss can make celebrations going around us ring not with glad peals but dimly as from afar.
For others the season's downcast mood is a response to lack of sun. Daylight is at its lowest in December.
Those who get blue often can pinpoint what makes them react to the season as they do.
Understanding the seasonal effect is good information to have. It doesn’t automatically lift the heaviness some recognize as a constituent of this month.
We can take steps, by many different aids, to gain peace over
regrets or loneliness at this time of connections and community.
One approach is to shift the word blue away from a symbol for feelings that have gone south (but not with the vacationers chasing the sun).
We adopt the tactic of using the color blue to our benefit. We utilize blue as our token of joy.
We can begin using blue to advantage
by regarding it like vivid December sky. On it the clouds of care sail away. The
sun beams down to warm us through and through.
Oh so cold
here! Twelve below zero this morning and perfectly bright and sunny in aspect as
it gets to be when air pressure is high and all of the Arctic is visiting us.
It’s wonderful
reason to be warm inside getting at Christmas letters. The seasonal wishes will
be traveling over new laid snow. Upwards of eight inches fell earlier this week,
blanketing everything in white.
As the
addresses go on the envelopes, the sheet of stamps beside the festive cards marking
our mail for postal delivery, the thought that comes is of the friends with
whom we mark another year.
Christmas correspondence
affirms gratitude for relationships that can make every day feel like a holiday.
It expresses
the hope within us for peace, health and happiness. These hopes are universal –
they don’t need passports or have certain boundaries imposed on them.
This is the time, this end season of the year, to reboot good wishes for our
belabored and imperfect but marvelously amazing world.
As I
mentally sum up the year to make a Christmas letter not too lengthy and not too
lacking I count back through the months. The year 2013 has had ups and downs
accompanied by the personal growth that perhaps we were intended for through the hard
stuff and the fun events.
The
challenges that a year doles out require all of us to dig deep to find
reservoirs of courage or perseverance. Successes when they come lift us. They’re the easy things we pick out from the sequence of days. But the ordinary
moments give a balance and identity that may be the most important part of us
that we share.
One year is
life stretching us. It’s like a coach or personal trainer. Its aim, as it
appears to me, is to keep us flexed, poised and ready for more.
The Christmas
cards being readied for mailing tell me that friends and family are vital ties
of human connection. These ones companion us through a year and sometimes through a
lifetime. They hear our stories. They share in our joys. With understanding
wisdom they place us in our hearts when situations are tough.
Every day
has its routines and often its surprises. Time has deviations of pattern sometimes
planned and occasionally coming out of nowhere.
We’re
grateful for the rhythm of our days together at this time in our lives. There’s
a natural desire to share something of this with others.
Christmas
cards help in this. Writing our letters, signing our names to the holly-decorated cards, and stamping the envelopes with the special holiday stamps
give us a ritual to make the most of.
If we let
it, we can pause and refresh ourselves in the midst of seasonal busyness. By
these cards and greetings we invite in and reiterate our allegiance to those in our lives in meaningful ways.
Words can and do make a difference. The amount of mail generated at this season speaks volumes to the value of the personal touch as only each of us can deliver it.
New Year’s resolutions
came up as my daughter and I visited. 
Every month has a color
that suits it. 
Oh so cold
here! Twelve below zero this morning and perfectly bright and sunny in aspect as
it gets to be when air pressure is high and all of the Arctic is visiting us.