Seems this season is the time to stop and consider the following quote:

“Enough is as good as a feast. Enough brings satisfaction. Beyond that lies excess, not greater satisfaction. It says a lot about us (and about contentment) that people often wake up to the feast of plain life only when they reach death’s door. There, under the most “reduced circumstances” of all, many a person has discovered the sweetness of things previously too ordinary for them to notice.” Nelson Foster ” Storehouse of Treasures: Recovering the Riches of Chan and Zen pg.168

How many times have we told others…or been told by others ‘to stop and smell the roses.’ It’s good advice, in fact, well and good. Once we get past the stage of….I would if I had time. Oh yes, that bit of circular logic. Or non-logic.

And I am retired. As in no longer working in the world of corporate publishing in Manhattan NYC. Still it doesn’t seem like there is enough time in my life to actually enjoy all the good things I have in it.

And there are many excellent things in my Life. People, photography, good foods, the Catalina Mountains and an ever-increasing number of actively beckoning books on a growing number of subjects I want to know about.

Notice I said ‘know about’ not so much ‘learn about’ which takes time and focus and energy. Same issue different execution.

December I celebrated another birthday, there have been a bunch, and despite best effort not to do it – I once again am focusing on what do I want for me/as me during the next 12 months.

Dr. Ben Hardy is one of the major proponents of ‘focus today on who/how you want to be in the future”, rather than on the stickiness of today. Which I’ve decided flows well with

“I must let my thoughts encompass more and more of what I want and at the same time become more of what I really am.” Ernest Holmes, A New Design for Living, pg.155

To that end I am changing my morning journaling to the practice of declaring where I will be as I move on from where I am. Which has meant forgoing whining to my pages about all the stuff that makes me crazy: including acts by me as well as others. Letting that go is hard.

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill

So for the next 12 months (and foreseeable future), I work toward stopping to metaphorically smell the roses and instead to realistically take those moments for the actions which bring me joy and a richer Life.

-May your next year bring you brightness, peace and joy! Mariann