“Maybe this year,
we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives
not looking for flaws,
but looking for potential”.
Ellen Goodman
A new year is coming.
A time to reflect and look forward.
But most of the world will stare down their faults. Beat themselves up for not having done what they promised themselves they were going to do. They will toast the future and say good riddance to another scapegoat year.
They will begin their new year looking at the cracks, the faded wallpaper, and feel frustrated at the lumps of dust gathering in all the corners of their room.
They will make well forged resolutions and seal their promises. They will once again make a generous donation to their new fitness centre, and make a needless withdrawal to their own self-worth.
Wouldn’t it be better, if we showed some pity to ourselves?
This year is over.
This particular moment has run its course.
This year’s celebrations are once again upon us and without a doubt, they are a great way for all of humanity to simultaneously begin anew. To start with a renewed sense of faith and hope. To begin with love and purpose.
But this will not be your only opportunity to usher in a new beginning.
Every time you fall. Every day you fail and stumble. Every time you courageously face your mistakes, will always be another opportunity for a new beginning.
Embrace every opportunity for change, because it swings through every day like the moon, not like the distant orbit of a Halley’s comet.
Please don’t focus on your failures, your faults, or your mistakes.
Don’t look at the flaws and cracks, but embrace the potential, and be kind to yourself.
Complaining. Giving up. Hating yourself, comes easy.
Recognizing your own human dignity and the slow meticulous effort it takes to change, requires some deep unconditional love.
It’s time for a change.
It’s time to look at the world differently.
Time to see yourself differently.
Time to stop looking at the cracks.
A time to dream and see potential.
A new you.
A glorious phoenix rising from the dust.
