I
LOL’d at this pic. It might have been hysterical laughter, but it was
genuine—and that’s what will keep me going into 2017.
If
you believe life is going to be hard, it will be hard. Better to believe it
will be all right, that you will be
all right, than to condemn it from the get-go.
For
me, 2016 was a year rife with uphill battles. Ter and I agonized for months to
bring about something that has not yet materialized. Work was unsettling for us
both, for different reasons. My left ankle locked up in January. My bones
flared through the fall and winter. The Flyers missed the playoffs again. A baker’s dozen of musicians,
legends and icons passed on. The world went completely crazy. Looking back,
last year sucked out loud ... but it didn’t kill me. In fact, I have emerged (I
hope) stronger and more immune to difficulty than I was twelve months ago.
Seeds
were planted in the tumultuous soil of 2016 that will bloom in 2017. Some will
produce challenging consequences, others will remind us that beauty and art and
kindness still exist. Life will happen. We needn’t expend ourselves to seek the
bad stuff—CNN delights in keeping us apprised of global disasters, and reality
TV continues to bombard us with eat-or-be-eaten cupcake competitions and outback
inbred family shenanigans. The night is dark and full of terrors, ’tis true,
but it is also rich with moonlight and magic. Resolve to marvel at the
moonlight. Believe in the magic. Refuse to accept the universe as a cold and
hostile environment. Embrace the dark, let it liberate your other senses, and
above all, do not fear it.
It’s
only as scary as you want it to be.
New
Year’s resolutions, I have said, are not my thang. Maintaining a daily practice
of kindness, compassion, appreciation and gratitude for each moment is. Humans complicate everything.
Nothing needs to be that hard. When you find yourself fighting upstream, do
yourself a favour and stop. The river will take you where you’re meant to go;
resistance is generally a sign that you’re going the wrong way.
Or
that you’ve convinced yourself of life being unnecessarily hard. For you, a
spark of divinity caught in a human experience, it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Simplify as much as you can. Believe in the goodness of the Universe. Cherish yourself
and others will follow. You deserve it just
because. You are a good person, a valuable person, a light in the night
that will cast a wide beam if you allow yourself to do it—and doing it is easy.
Just
be you.
If
you’re unsure exactly who “you” are, take some time this year to figure it out.
Look inside rather than out. Listen to your heart. Ignore your head. (Hint: Your
heart always speaks softly. Your head will chatter incessantly and even start
yelling to make itself heard. The louder it gets, the closer you are to
silencing it with a solitary word: Quiet.)
Remember, given freely and without condition, love is never a mistake. Try it
on yourself first. It’ll feel weird to start, but it gets easier with (you
guessed it!) practice. And don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. Or a week.
Or a month. Forgive yourself and start again. And don’t wait for January 1,
2018 to do it.
I’m
with you.
With
love,
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