A New Year - New Direction

It is January and I have not blogged for three months! My brother told me when I started that the key was to be consistent! I have since found out that he struggled his way to consistency, so, instead of beating myself up I will say - to quote the enduring British (or Aussie) one-hit wonder . . . "I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down" . . . ad infinitum!

I am not hot on New Year's Resolutions, but I do believe that it is a perfect time for us to evaluate the direction of our lives and the values that we hold. The cyclical nature of the seasons almost compel us from within to moan with the frosty winds and ache for the newness of Spring - even in Florida, where it is said that we experience three seasons in a single week sometime in January and for the rest of the year it's Summer!

This year past has been extremely challenging, but in terms of growth has been most rewarding. I have come into 2009 a better and more whole person than entered 2008. That I am in my 50's is all the more remarkable because tradition holds that the older we get the more intransigent! For me it seems to be the opposite. Not that I don't like things a certain way, but I am finding that to be willing to let go is far more exciting than having everything 'My Way' - sorry Frank! That I could think that if only people saw it, did it, felt it, enjoyed it the way I did they would surely be happy is very naive. That I could support and encourage them in having it their way is far more satisfying!

So I recalled a teaching of Don Miguel Ruiz who says that the practice of four simple agreements with ourselves will ultimately change the world and I decided to make these the focus of my New Year. I will try to be Impeccable With My Words - I will say what I mean and mean what I say. I will Take Nothing Personally - trying to remember that most everything is not 'about me', it's about the other persons 'stuff'. I will Not Assume Anything - we all know who ends up being the ass! And I Will Do My Best. I really believe that if I practice these principals enough I might master them and then I shall know emotional, spiritual and physical health! Not a bad lot for the year!!

Happy New Year my friends and family!

With Love and Peace, Geoff