Shout It Out

"As selfishness and complaint pervert the mind, so love with its joy clears and sharpens the vision." -Helen Keller

It is December 31st, the final day of the year, the final chance to do one great thing for your life this year. And that one last great thing is to let it go. Let go of the hurt and complaints that crept into your life during the year. Today is the day to pour out any pain or disappointment that remains.

Your life is like a bucket, some shiny new while others are getting old and tarnished, but both capable of holding great things. But we carry complaint like a full bucket of water, heavy and cumbersome. We carefully carry it so as not to spill any of it from our lives. The only problem is that while we are concentrating so hard on the complaints, we lose sight of the great things in our lives.

Now that the year has come to an end, pour that complaint out of your life. With an empty bucket to start the year, it DOES NOT mean we fill it with complaint for the coming year. In fact, pour it out, turn the bucket over, stand on top of it and shout out all of your worries, your complaints and your doubts.

Shout out the complaints from the past year.

Shout out the complaints you are sure to have in the new year.

Let it all go now, today and let it seep deep into the ground and out of your life. The bucket will be ready for all those great things to happen in the year to come. This empty bucket will now be ready for you to fill it with goodness, no complaining, no regrets, no looking back.

The end of a year is like a paved road ending. All that stretches out in front of you is a dirt path. It is an uncharted course, with the unknown but something of great promise around the bend.

Take this final day and unload all of your complaints from this year. Unload all complaints for the coming year. Be done with complaint and free up your year for all of the good that can happen.

A new year awaits you filled with many great things. Take your empty bucket into the new year and fill it with all of those great things.

Stay inspired my friends! Have a safe and happy New Year!

Miles To Go

“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.”
-Homer, The Odyssey

Sleep is a wonderous and re-energizing activity that we tend to give short shrift to. But during these days of vacation, it can be a good thing to learn more about your sleep patterns. Give your alarm clock a vacation now.

Doing so will help you sleep better at night during those weeks of working. Better sleep means better physical and mental preparedness, which also means you will perform better during the daylight hours.

In a Psychology Today article, it is good to evaluate your sleep patterns. They say "...take the time to figure out when your body wants to sleep and when it wants to be awake." Find out what kind of sleep your body needs in preparation for the new year.

We are not all made the same and that means not all of us require the same kind of sleep. Doing this now will help you become more productive in the coming year. Besides, we all have many miles to go before we sleep...we might as well be well rested.

Stay inspired my friends.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Blow Thou Winter Wind

“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” ―Steve Maraboli

Only a few more days left in this year and for those in the northern hemisphere, winter's cold wind blows with a cold fierceness. It is a time when emotions can get the better of us. The lamentations of another year gone by can consume our thoughts of perceived failures.

It is easy to sit and question the wrongs we feel others may have exacted upon us. We can let past wrongs consume our future as the cold wind howls outside. Thoughts of how thankless and false love and friendship can be will creep into our minds. It seems as if all life is made up of human ingratitude.

We pull our coats tight in order to fight the winter winds. But the idea that people can be thankless is worse than the harshness of that same winter wind. We allow these thoughts to take over and debilitate us.

What should never be forgotten is that life is worth living. One should move forward, be happy, forgive and forget the failings of others. Forgive your own failings.

Shift your thinking and your world will shift for the better.

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
by William Shakespeare

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember'd not.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Stay inspired my friends!

Six is not Evil

"Seeing within changes one's outer vision." -Joseph Chilton Pearce

Wow, wasn't that another amazing Christmas Day celebration? It was full of family, friends, presents and eating; lots of eating. Hopefully you received that one special gift and more importantly, you gave someone that one special gift. Yet the day is over and the wrapping paper is bundled in trash bags awaiting the garbage man.

We have also fallen into that time period at the end of a year I call the quiet period. A time when the year is not quite over and not much more can be accomplished. Many people have taken time off and others are left working; seemingly there to only keep the office from burning down. A lull in what was a busy and full year.

It also becomes a time when we truly find moments to reflect on the year gone by. The New Year's resolutions made nearly 365 days ago are either distant memories or marked accomplishments on our goal list. Some may still be working on them, which is a good thing and please continue with them into the newest year arriving.

This time of year is also a good time to reflect on how we have lived our lives over the past year. Have we tried to be a good and decent person? Have we been loving and true to our family and friends? Have we treated everyone including strangers as we would want to be treated?

What I suggest during this quiet period is to take these next six days and make a list of six things you would like to improve upon next year. And do not think the number six to be evil, it is just a number. It is simply the number of days left to prepare yourself for the new coming year.

Take those six days and look for the good in a number such as six. Six days and you will also find there is goodness in other people. Six days to prepare yourself for the coming year. Six days to become a better person to others.

Stay inspired my friends.