Straddling Two Years
On this New Year's Eve, it occurs to me that I'm straddling two years, 2016 and 2017.
2016 brought strife, anger, uncertainty and fear to the hearts and minds of millions of Americans.
What now?
We must ask ourselves how we will respond in 2017.
Will we ring in the new year holding onto the anger and fear? Or will we step into the edges of our comfort zone and help propel something new forward? I'm afraid...of losing my health insurance, of rollbacks to our efforts as a nation to combat climate change at a time of critical need to change course, of increased hate crimes, sexism, racism, Islamophobia and terrorism.
How can I use these fears and the energy behind them to move towards creating something positive and joyful? What can I do as one person to make a difference?
I can start at home. I can start to create the new world I want to live in. I can examine the aspects of my life I want to change and re-evaluate where I want to go next...where and who I want to be in 5-10 years...and begin.
I can be more patient with my teenage daughter when she doesn't clean up after herself. I can pursue a new career path, a spiritual life or become an activist to support the causes I care about. I can reconcile with people who have hurt me in the past. I can start each day in a joyful state and try to spread that joy to others. I can have compassion for those who aren't like me and don't believe similarly to me.
We have the power to change our lives. We can become the people we want to be and in seeking our best selves, we are creating new energy and connections within ourselves and with others. And that positive energy will fan out into the world.
If we each take steps to leave 2016 behind and propel ourselves into 2017 with self-reflection, we just might build the better world we're hoping for...as one collective force for good.
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!
