A New Year Thought
Nature Girl
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
A New Year Thought Finish each day and be done with it. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Two of the most useless phrases in the English language are "what if" and "if only." We waste so much time and energy thinking about what we might have done and wishing we had acted or reacted differently. We imagine how things might have turned out "if only . . ."
All of us make mistakes. To go back and wonder and wish about our yesterdays prevents us from living fully today. Each day is a fresh chance; a new beginning. We can only squeeze what we can out of the moment and let the drops fall where they may. Some will evaporate and some will form rainbows.
Can I forget about yesterday and start a fresh new day?
From Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families
Nature Girl
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
Happy New Year to all my dear friends here. May 2017 be a year of growth and new beginnings for each of us.
Take the lessons from the past and leave the junk behind. A new year is beginning and we each get a chance to start again and make our lives lovely and livable.
Many new blessings to each one of you.
Hugs
Take the lessons from the past and leave the junk behind. A new year is beginning and we each get a chance to start again and make our lives lovely and livable.
Many new blessings to each one of you.
Hugs
Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: New York
Posts: 35,731
((Ann)) Your posts are always so inspirational. Thank you for sharing your love and light.
Wishing you a very Happy New Year.
May it be filled with joy, peace, good health and love from my heart to yours.
Wishing you a very Happy New Year.
May it be filled with joy, peace, good health and love from my heart to yours.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 293
Thank you Ann! Such true statements that I hope to live by in the new year. Looking forward to hopefully a healthy and happy new year and wishing you and your family the same! Thank you for your words of wisdom that you gave to me this year to help me through a difficult time. Hugs 🤗
Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 207
Thank you for reminding me of that I have to look forward instead of back. I've got stuck looking back, thinking what if, if only like you mentioned. No good, I know.
I hope this New Year will bring you everything you wish for Ann. Thank you for your useful post
I hope this New Year will bring you everything you wish for Ann. Thank you for your useful post
Thank you, Ann.
Nature Girl
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
It is the first day of a new year. We get to choose how we go into this fresh start...I made a few resolutions that I intend to keep and mostly will continue to find the joy and be grateful in every single day...no matter what it brings.
Happy New Year dear friends.
Happy New Year dear friends.
Nature Girl
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
A thought from Maya Angelou
The bells are a-clamor, chimes have been loosed, there is a banquet of Hosannas in the air.
We have endured endless peaks of pain and valleys of loneliness; We have lost beloved's we could not live without; yet we have lived.
We have encountered unforgivable cruelty; yet we have forgiven. Yet we have been forgiven.
We have survived, flourished, and thrived with passion, compassion, humor and style. We have been fortunate and worthy.
Now we stand, heavy laden, before a great gate which leads to the rest of all time.
It swings ajar, and we know at this critical moment that not all we carry need enter when we enter.
We can evict hate and scorn from our souls; we can open clenched fists, and let bigotry, malice and enmity fall back down the slope to yesterday.
We can lay down our burden of violence and step lightly over the lintel into a vernal and newly-minted tomorrow.
We, who never saw a new century; we, who never saw a new one thousand years, can join the hallelujah, the hymns, the paeans, the voices all over the world.
We can shout or whisper, scream or mumble:
Happy New Year!!!"
Maya Angelou (Adapted Slightly)
The bells are a-clamor, chimes have been loosed, there is a banquet of Hosannas in the air.
We have endured endless peaks of pain and valleys of loneliness; We have lost beloved's we could not live without; yet we have lived.
We have encountered unforgivable cruelty; yet we have forgiven. Yet we have been forgiven.
We have survived, flourished, and thrived with passion, compassion, humor and style. We have been fortunate and worthy.
Now we stand, heavy laden, before a great gate which leads to the rest of all time.
It swings ajar, and we know at this critical moment that not all we carry need enter when we enter.
We can evict hate and scorn from our souls; we can open clenched fists, and let bigotry, malice and enmity fall back down the slope to yesterday.
We can lay down our burden of violence and step lightly over the lintel into a vernal and newly-minted tomorrow.
We, who never saw a new century; we, who never saw a new one thousand years, can join the hallelujah, the hymns, the paeans, the voices all over the world.
We can shout or whisper, scream or mumble:
Happy New Year!!!"
Maya Angelou (Adapted Slightly)
Nature Girl
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
(((Seren))) I wish you healing blessings for 2017, and no, there are some things we never forget. The blessing in this is we find we have courage we never knew we had, we are stronger than we imagined, and even when we are sad beyond pain, there are friends and those who love us and offer whatever comfort they can.
That said, sometimes I just hate those kind of blessing.
Yesterday I attended a concert called Salute to Vienna, with my husband and my brother and his wife. It was a lovely combination of symphony, opera, dancing including ballet. My brother is in early alzheimers but managed very well considering he has been way off his routine over Christmas, so it was good to see him very close to normal. At the end of the concert the symphony played Auld Lang Syne and the audience stood to sing with them. We all had our arms around each other as we sang, and I looked at my sister in law and she looked at me and we both had tears streaming down our faces. 2016 hadn't been a great year for either of us. My husband was still going through cancer treatment and one surgery and her husband (my brother) was discovering his early alzheimers.
And yet, we stood, together and strong, washing out the old year with our tears and bringing in the new year with our hope, courage and faith, that whatever it brought, we would make it together.
Sometimes a new year just brings us reminders that we CAN get through the pain, or at least endure it. And it brings hope for the year ahead, blind faith that it will, in some way be better.
Love you all for your support and input here.
Hugs
That said, sometimes I just hate those kind of blessing.
Yesterday I attended a concert called Salute to Vienna, with my husband and my brother and his wife. It was a lovely combination of symphony, opera, dancing including ballet. My brother is in early alzheimers but managed very well considering he has been way off his routine over Christmas, so it was good to see him very close to normal. At the end of the concert the symphony played Auld Lang Syne and the audience stood to sing with them. We all had our arms around each other as we sang, and I looked at my sister in law and she looked at me and we both had tears streaming down our faces. 2016 hadn't been a great year for either of us. My husband was still going through cancer treatment and one surgery and her husband (my brother) was discovering his early alzheimers.
And yet, we stood, together and strong, washing out the old year with our tears and bringing in the new year with our hope, courage and faith, that whatever it brought, we would make it together.
Sometimes a new year just brings us reminders that we CAN get through the pain, or at least endure it. And it brings hope for the year ahead, blind faith that it will, in some way be better.
Love you all for your support and input here.
Hugs
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Boston Ma
Posts: 980
Thanks Ann for A thought from Maya Angelou, a timely message. Happy and Safe New Year to all! Grateful for your inspiration.
We have endured endless peaks of pain and valleys of loneliness; We have lost beloved's we could not live without; yet we have lived.
We have encountered unforgivable cruelty; yet we have forgiven. Yet we have been forgiven.
We have survived, flourished, and thrived with passion, compassion, humor and style. We have been fortunate and worthy.
Now we stand, heavy laden, before a great gate which leads to the rest of all time.
It swings ajar, and we know at this critical moment that not all we carry need enter when we enter.
We can evict hate and scorn from our souls; we can open clenched fists, and let bigotry, malice and enmity fall back down the slope to yesterday."
We have endured endless peaks of pain and valleys of loneliness; We have lost beloved's we could not live without; yet we have lived.
We have encountered unforgivable cruelty; yet we have forgiven. Yet we have been forgiven.
We have survived, flourished, and thrived with passion, compassion, humor and style. We have been fortunate and worthy.
Now we stand, heavy laden, before a great gate which leads to the rest of all time.
It swings ajar, and we know at this critical moment that not all we carry need enter when we enter.
We can evict hate and scorn from our souls; we can open clenched fists, and let bigotry, malice and enmity fall back down the slope to yesterday."
Nature Girl
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
Thank you all for your kind words and good thoughts as we all go forward together.
I am keeping a journal each day, to record 3 things,...my joy...my gratitude and my weight loss (on my new year diet). So day one went well. Day 2 it is raining and grey and I gained a pound, even though I was true to my eating plan.
But darn it all, by the end of the day I will find joy and gratitude, and hope that tomorrow my weight is at least an ounce less.
The good news is that my "swear jar" is empty.
If there is one thing that needed adjusting for me in this new year...it's my attitude. I will prop it up and keep my eye on the ball of recovery.
I am keeping a journal each day, to record 3 things,...my joy...my gratitude and my weight loss (on my new year diet). So day one went well. Day 2 it is raining and grey and I gained a pound, even though I was true to my eating plan.
But darn it all, by the end of the day I will find joy and gratitude, and hope that tomorrow my weight is at least an ounce less.
The good news is that my "swear jar" is empty.
If there is one thing that needed adjusting for me in this new year...it's my attitude. I will prop it up and keep my eye on the ball of recovery.
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