Happy New Year

Why do we start a new year, with promises to improve?  Who began this tradition of never-ending pressure? I say, at the end of a year, should be filled with congratulation, for all we survived. And I say a new year should start with promises to be kinder to ourselves, to understand better just how much we bear as humans on this exhausting treadmill of life.

And if we are to promise more, let’s pledge to rest, before our bodies force us.

Let’s pledge to stop, and drink in life as it happens. Let’s pledge to strip away a layer of perfection to reveal the flawed and wondrous humanity we truly are inside.

Why start another year, gifted to us on this earth, with demands on our already over-strained humanity, when we could be learning to accept, that we were always supposed to be imperfect. And that is where the beauty lives, actually. And if we can only find that beauty, we would also find peace.

I wish you peace in 2023. Everything else is all just a part of it.

Let it be so.

 

written by Donna Ashworth

I Love Books

Last summer I started taking a book to work and instead of sitting in the break room, I went outside and sat in the cool grass under a tree to read. I'd forgotten what a great pleasure that is.

I love books. No kindle or e-books for me. I want the real deal. I want to smell the ink, feel the paper, turn the pages; I want real books! 

I love books that carry me off to faraway places; times past, or magical worlds where I can forget the troubles and stresses of the day, even if for a little while.

I love books that make me feel as though I’m part of the story; wondering what will happen next, feeling the tension, excitement, curiosity and joy. 

I love books that make me think, wonder, and question. I love books that make me savor words and emotions. 

I love books that make you feel, when you are done, that you’re saying goodbye to an old friend.