Blog January 2019

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RESOLUTIONS....DO YOU DARE?

Posted On: January 03, 2019


New Year. New beginnings. New start. New chapter. New Resolutions. This is what the first few days of a new year represents,at least on the surface.

January often is a chance to reflect and make some changes and many of us write out goals and resolutions. I’ve preferred for many years now to choose a word rather than make resolutions because resolutions don’t seem to work for me.

I don’t know who started the trend but choosing a “one word” has caught on like fire and it has given purpose and direction for those of us who have abandoned the resolution making.

My one word has become not just a theme for the year but also a pilgrimage.

It challenges my comfort zone and challenges me at the same time. I’ve made the decision to go with it because it won’t go away and when I pray it pops up over and over.

The word is DARE!

I have many new ventures ahead and am not sure all what or how my one word will hold up, but I am trusting that this is the word that will sustain my spirit.

As I dare…

to live purposefully.

to grow spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically

to equip and empower others.

to share vision and not fear change

to live in humility and appreciate what I have

to judge less and give more

to forgive and be fair

to love well

and that I would trust to dare to so much more.

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CELEBRATING NEW YEAR'S

Posted On: January 01, 2019

There are hundreds of good luck rituals woven among New Year celebrations, also practiced in the name of exercising a little control over fate. The Dutch, for whom the circle is a symbol of success, eat donuts. Greeks bake special Vassilopitta cake with a coin inside, bestowing good luck in the coming year on whoever finds it in his or her slice. Fireworks on New Year's Eve started in China millennia ago as a way to chase off evil spirits. The Japanese hold New Year’s Bonenkai, or "forget-the-year parties," to bid farewell to the problems and concerns of the past year and prepare for a better new one. Disagreements and misunderstandings between people are supposed to be resolved, and grudges set aside. In a New Year’s ritual for many cultures, houses are scrubbed to sweep out the bad vibes and make room for better ones.

Resolutions to give us the pretense of control over the future. Everywhere, New Year's is a moment to consider our weaknesses and how we might reduce the vulnerabilities they pose—and to do something about the scary powerlessness that comes from thinking about the unsettling unknown of what lies ahead. As common as these shared behaviors are across both history and culture, it’s fascinating to realize that the special ways that people note this unique passage of one day into the next are probably all manifestations of the human animal’s fundamental imperative for survival.

So, how do you reassure yourself against the scariest thing the future holds, the only sure thing that lies ahead, the inescapable reality that you will someday die? Pass the donuts, the Vassilopitta and the grapes, light the fireworks, and raise a glass to toast: "To survival!"

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