Clean Sweep

This is a quiet, peaceful New England lake before the snows came.




A new year of life is like a clean blackboard. Nothing's been written on it yet and it stands ready to be useful. It's ready for brilliant creativity and words of wisdom, humor, or even sorrow.

The year ahead is such a gift---unused, precious, and fragile.

Every new day we wake up to is a present to be carefully untied, unwrapped, gazed at, handled tenderly, and appreciated.

Givers, people who constantly serve others in a myriad of ways, make the world a better place. However, givers must guard their tendency to take on the problems of others. Everyone has a path to walk in this life. Sometimes the going gets very rough. The bad times pass so every human being must learn to hang on tight until the tide turns.

Givers, sometimes called codependents in therapeutic circles, want to not only listen to others' problems, but also solve them. Obviously, this is an impossible task. We can listen, help in whatever capacity possible, and then we must let go.
We do not have to solve the problems of the world.

One of the best questions ever asked of me was,
"Don't you know the givers attract the takers?"

There will always be problems, mine as well as everyone elses'. It's part of being human. One can still be kind, compassionate, and a good listener without trying to solve others' problems.

So pick up the chalk and start writing on the blackboard. It's a new year. There are new stories to write and adventures to have!

Like putting one's house in order, it's good to have a clean sweep!

What is one new adventure you would like to have this year? Is there some place you would like to travel? A course you'd like to take? A language you'd like to learn? Would love to hear your answers!