A New Year

At the end of each year, I like to read through my journal and do a personal "year in review." It's always surprising how much I forget, and how I still get upset about things that I thought I had learned to handle better. It's also an opportunity to give thanks: for time spent with people I love, for experiences I enjoyed, for relaxation and excitement, and for lessons learned. 

And then I look ahead at the new year and all the potential it holds. I don't usually make new year's resolutions but I do think about what I want to focus my time and energy on, what I want to work on, what I want to let go of. 

And I realize time and time again that what shapes my life the most is not what happens to me, but how I respond. So many circumstances are beyond our control: health, decisions made at our workplace, how other people treat us. The only thing we can control is how we respond: With anger, despair, withdrawal...
Or with compassion, openness, courage.
We can accept the things that are beyond our control, and change what only we can: our own attitude.
This year, 2019, I choose an attitude of gratitude, of calm, and of compassion.
Ask me again next year how it went! With God's grace, I believe I will be one step closer to becoming the person God created me to be. Thankfully, God has more patience than I do.
Here's to a peaceful 2019!