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New Year’s Ramblings

January is a great month for reflection.

reflections water

I know we can start anew anytime we want, but January seems such a perfect time. In Michigan, January days are long, cold and dreary. Unless you ski, which I can’t, it is a great time for reflection. (Since I wrote this, I have taken up walking in the winter. I love it. I love the feeling of cold air on my cheeks and how refreshed I feel when I come inside. It’s far more invigorating than walking in hot weather.)

For me, that means examining my habits, my relationships, my desires, etc. It also means looking back and figuring out what brought me joy and what didn’t.

What were the situations that caused me angst and what can I do in the future to avoid that?

Are there attitudes I need to change?

Are there relationships that need adjusting?

In what ways do I need to expand my life?

In what ways do I need to draw my life in?

Even as I write, the questions and thoughts flow from my mind right to my fingertips and right on this keyboard with little conscious thought on my part.

I love that.

I love how blogging seems to be almost magical for me. I write things I didn’t even know I was thinking. Blogging is perhaps the most efficient and self-revealing activity I do. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes it isn’t.

However, it’s always worthwhile.

So today I encourage all of you to take time this month to think through this past year. I’m a firm believer that life worth living is the life that is examined now and then. Why stand still when we can grow?

And we know this for sure:

We are generally either moving forward, moving backward or remaining stagnant and stagnant anything is usually “stinky”.

Remaining stagnant is not being at peace. Some people confuse the two. When we are at peace, we are not stagnant. Peace requires decision and decision is an action.

One resolution I made last year which was to let certain relationships settle into a natural rhythm rather than me trying to make them something they’re not, I have done a pretty good job of that although it wasn’t easy and I think I will always need to grow in this area. I have a tendency to carry more than my share of responsibility. But this year, I hope to accomplish it with even more grace,

Anyway, that’s my New Year’s Ramblings for today. As I progress through this month you will be updated as to my final resolutions for 2015. I may not keep them all. They will probably be redefined as life changes, but formulating them is a good place to start.

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