Happy NEW Year

We did the family thing for Christmas--Covid testing included. Smaller but sweeter than usual, we lapped up some much thirsted after together-time...laughing, learning, living, loving.  Now everyone is back in their own bed. Almost. As I sip it here in the limbo-ic dawn, my pomegranate-laced green tea tastes pungently bittersweet. Or is it my mood.

I’m vacillating...reminiscing about the days (and year) past while anticipating the challenges of what lies ahead. There is, however, one thing about this limbo-ic feeling that I actually love about these days of transition from the old year to the new, from what was and is to what can and will be. It’s this: Even for those who have to return to work, these days feel different...something sane, almost sacred, about them. Like other limbo-ic days, these represent something welcoming. Something inviting. Something hopeful.

Transitions come in all shapes and sizes. Some are just built into life. Never mind unavoidable, they are absolutely necessary. Some, like our body’s physical development, can be predicted. Others, like this pandemic, can’t. Incidentally, I find it ironic that we live in a state of not one but multiple transitions at any single moment--many of them very positive. Yet, at the same time, we are wanting the opposite--for things to just stay the same--even sometimes or somewhat negative things. (We can make that kind of stasis happen, too. It’s called procrastination.)

This moment (as all moments) isn’t just transitory. It’s also transitional. Better yet, it can be transformational--if we choose to consciously make it so. 

Together, let’s use these in-between days to forge a truly happy NEW year. 

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT.

LET’S TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW WE THINK.

ONE LIFE TO LIVE

We each have one life to live. It's happening right now.

As always, there is a whole lot of wishing going on during these holidays--and I’m not talking about children! But let’s not project the season’s “Santa Clausal” thinking into our adulthood. If you’re reading this, chances are good you’re all growed up now. So let’s not waste a single moment wishing for anything--including someone else’s life--or any part of it. 

You and I alone have the incredible gift of the life we have--the life we’ve created--with all its unique, if universal, pleasures and pains, past and potential. So, instead of giving into our wishful thinking, let’s surround all such thoughts with conscious thankfulness and genuine appreciation for what is, not what isn’t.

It’ll make these days as wonderful as they are wonder-filled. 

THIS HOLIDAY SEASON.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT.

LET’S TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW WE THINK.

THE ONE THING

THE ONE THING

We’ve been together for a number of months now...since shortly after Covid-19 began its rampage across the world. Throughout this time I’ve been sharing my thoughts here with a singular purpose: to encourage us to think about how we think. Why? Because nothing is more important. Nothing! (Case in point: If you are a religious person, it’s the basis of your religion. If you’re not, your thinking is the basis of that, too.) There are no exceptions on this one, no matter what we place on the continuum!

We’re doing it 24/7/365 from birth till death. How we do it is the one (and sometimes only) thing you and I have control over in the course of our day--or at least, it can feel this way. It’s the one thing that influences our emotions and our actions--and their consequences--more than anything else. It’s the one thing that you and I MUST take responsibility for before anything else, in order to live a life that is joyful, compassionate, generative and meaning-filled as opposed to one empowered by fear, greed, lust and ego. 

Oddly, it’s the one thing that we--in the blink of an eye--surrender unconditionally to the thinking, influences, forms and forces in and around us. (If we want proof of all this we need only to consider the devastating political climate we Americans are living in and how we got here--for which no one person’s thinking or actions is entirely responsible.) At the same time, our current world’s/humanity’s well being--or lack thereof--reveals that it’s more important than ever that we think about how we think. Finally, it begs us to remember that our thinking, which got us here in the first place, is the one thing--the only thing--that will get us out of here and onto high ground. 

While we're busy buying or making Christmas gifts for our loved ones these days, let’s give them the one gift that can and will genuinely improve their lives--as well as the life of this exquisitely unique, diverse and beautiful world. While we’re at it, let’s give it to our gnarly neighbors, our politically-possessed politicians, and those most different from us. And let’s not wait for Christmas. Let’s do it today. Beginning right now. It’s not expensive. It’s absolutely free. But its essence is essential, its availability is infinite and its value is priceless. 

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT.

LET’S TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW WE THINK

A LEAVENING OF LIGHT

Deep in an underground iron ore mine, 

we tourists stood quiet. Stood close.

Turning our helmet lamps off, we waited, 

pitched in a black so bleak

that our inky eyes, though wide, 

saw nothing.

The minutes seemed a forever,

until she, our guide, lit the match.

Just one little match!

It shattered the cavernous blackness,

tiny shards piercing the darkest of the deep.

Gasping in awe at its bitsy brilliance,

we sighed in collective relief, 

our surroundings secure, 

our bearings regained.

Who knew! 

Something so small yet so big,

so petite yet so powerful,

so diminutive yet so demanding,

as one little match.

Though we may wish 

the whole of our darkness dispelled,

it takes but a leavening of light

to see the path before us,

and to find a way through.

FAR SIDE

I’ve always loved the story of Moses' encounter with God in the burning bush (Exodus 3). During a recent reading I clued in on something I’d not noticed before: Moses had this experience on “the far side of the wilderness.” Where, exactly, is that?! And more importantly, why does it matter?

Both these questions matter because of what happened there--Moses encountered the holy in his life.

What if, metaphorically-speaking, ANY AND EVERY place or moment is actually a “far side of the wilderness” place and moment for us? Moses actually traveled to this story’s location. But, haven’t we been traveling all our lives to get to where we are? Doesn’t it feel like we’re in a wilderness? Many think one has to go to a physical location to best experience God...a church, synagogue or mosque...or at least some place special to us. But what if we don’t. What if today you and I are standing in exactly the same “place” as Moses was standing--on the far side of the wilderness?

Metaphorical or not, this story is archetypal of the human experience of the "holy" in our lives. It begs us to stop right where we are, to look around till we perceive the burning bushes that are all around us--and then look again--to see and hear the “holy” in them.  It implores us to “take off our shoes,” and dig our feet deep into the soil of our souls...to recognize that this very place is holy--and that this makes our entire lives holy--because God is present in and through them.

A few more what if’s: What if our creativity is our far side? What if whatever challenges we’re rising to, issues we’re dealing with or relationships we’re struggling with are our far side? What if wherever we encounter mystery, whatever causes us to ask, “Why?” or more, “Why is this happening to me?” is our far side?

And the biggest what-if of all: What if you and I are burning bushes? What if we’re the means through which God--the holy--is choosing to reveal itself in the wilderness of the world today?...inspiring it into life-giving mission and meaning?

Hello? 

TODAY.

LET’S GIFT THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT.

LET’S TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW WE THINK.

2020...BEST YEAR EVER?

For many, these are the worst of times,

but some say, “For me, they’re the best!” 

On what does it depend?

Seems to me,

the best of times we can ever have

will always be,

can only be,

these times

--whichever year it is--

because this year 

is the only one 

that is made of

this quarter, 

this month,

this week,

this day,

this hour,

this minute,

this second,

this moment.

And this moment

is the only moment

we ever have.