We are on the brink of a new year. A favorite time to reflect on the past year, lessons learned, goals achieved, or not, and what we want for the coming year.
Write it out.
What did you learn this past year?
What do you want for the coming year?
Year: 2016
Government Reform?
There has been a decades long call for campaign and government reform. Americans are very tired of the long election campaigns, the frozen lack of functioning in congress and the influence of big money. People are hoping with this new administration that the focus will be the people. If this is true, it should be easy to get these reforms.
Contact your representatives to ask them to start campaign and other reforms to change this for the future.
You are the Teacher Today
The Christmas holiday is past. Everyone is coming down off their high and assessing if it was a success. Was it a success for you?
What would you do differently? Write it on your calendar (I assume you just got one for Christmas) in October or November of 2017. What do you wish to remember for next year? Less presents? Less obligations? Streamline activities?
Create a lesson plan for the 2017 holidays. Be your own teacher and learn from this years’ mistakes. And then, enjoy this day.
Merry Christmas!
What is the meaning of Christmas for you?
The Day Before
Slow down, you move too fast.
Got to make the morning last.
Breathe.
And actually BE present today.
Advertisers and Lies
It’s a frenzy right now. Advertisers are competing for your dollar, America needs you to spend money so our economy can grow, businesses can be rich and so we are bombarded with ads pressuring you to make every person happy by buying them the perfect gift.
Hogwash. Don’t fall for it.
I was recently in Mexico and did not see one commercial for buying anything for Christmas. Evidently, there is not an emphasis on presents. When I was on an American channel I saw commercial after commercial with happy children ecstatic at what their dreams coming true.
Hogwash again.
Childrens’ dreams are not made by the right gift, they are made by loving relationships. How will that play out for you this holiday season? Where is the focus? How can you shop local and at the little guy’s store? How can you bring what you love and value to your holidays?
Love the Holidays?
Easy question, yes? Of course we love the holidays, or at least we like to believe we do. But at this point in time you might be hating the holidays and all the demands we believe we have to meet.
How do the holidays play out in your life? We are days before Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa and likely you are on the brink of exhaustion. Slow it down. Take a look at what your are trying to accomplish in the next few days and see what can give. Where is the love?
Retail
Have you ever worked in retail or known someone who has? If yes, you understand the immense pressure and difficulty of working with the public especially at the holiday season.
Make a cashier or salesperson smile today.
Winter Break
Likely all the children around the country are on winter break. Parents are wrangling their little loved ones to alternate day care and finding ways to keep them safe while they are at work. It’s busy now but there is the week between Christmas and New Years that can be a special time for families.
After all the festivities, what could be the focus of your time together as a family? This year may be a good time to talk about what it means to you to be an American. What are the values you bring to the table when it comes to your country? How are those values being expressed in the current administration and how do you think they will be expressed in the new administration?
Will you give blanket compliance with anything the new administration wants to do? Will you speak out for the things you don’t agree with? Speak out for the things you do agree with? How will you do that?
It’s time to be an active citizen. To do that, you need to know where you stand. Spend some time considering your own position, do some reading, gather information from a wide variety of sources and create your own platform. Talk with your partner, your family, your friends and discover what they think. Talk with your kids about what they believe and what you believe and how you, and your kids, will be active citizens.
Mother Nature Monday
This time of year weather is a bane to many folks around the country. Snow, sleet, ice, rain, darkness make for lousy driving and problems getting places. So many holiday parties and plans, so much cold and miserable. Mother Nature is doing her best to scour the countryside, clear out the debris, bring all the energy back into the roots, the earth.
We could learn something here. Winter is a time of pulling in, staying home, refreshing our energy. It’s about stillness. It’s about self-reflection. Holidays can also be about self-reflection about what matters to us most. Many, when they slow down, know what they really want is to be with family and friends.
Take a cue from Mother Nature and see if you can slow it down, focus on the people in your life. If not before the holidays aim for after. There is a let down after the holidays that can be depressing or refreshing. If you see it as time to be quiet, read something inspirational and take good care of yourself, you’ll feel your energy return. Make a plan today to bring some peacefulness and quiet into your life.
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