How You Begin

How you begin may be largely influenced by how you end.

So, as you reflect on this last year, how are you ending?

It is easy to focus on this year's circumstances (they were a bit unusual).  But, perhaps more importantly; where are you as a result of it, as you move from one year to another?  

Are you connected to what you want to be connected to?  What do you want to be different (or the same) in a new year?

As I reflect on my passing year, I am reminded of how I ended 2019 (see my 12/31/19 post, You Are A Problem).  The question is, what did I do with that and everything else in 2020?

I will attempt to answer by updating the list below, throughout the day today:

• I resisted the appeal of cynicism 

• I recognized more fully that change is a function of growth 

• I need a sense of community 

• I learned more about how meaning is strength 

• Fear often controls us — collectively and personally — but, it can also awaken us 

• I need to acknowledge that there appears to be an inverse relationship between my piety and my questions 

• Justice is a collective thing — in other words, it is NOT just someone else's problem...it is also mine 

• What I do matters the most...way more than just what I think 

• We have choices to make about power in our lives. For me, the best way to make them is to look and listen differently

• My use of time reflects my values — conspiracies and labeling others are a waste of time; empathy isn't

• The birth of a child has a way of re-centering my priorities, from everything else going on around me

• As I end 2020, I want to begin more deeply with this question:  What do I want?

Maybe music is the way to both end and begin!