New Years

Last year seems to have passed without any posts from me on this site, either extolling the virtues of something or complaining about something else. I easily shift away from documenting my self-reflection, and I think that's what the past year of absence from this forum has proven.


So Jan 1, 2017 is tomorrow. It's a good time to reflect about the past year what I hope for the coming year. So, here goes... (And maybe I'll see if I can update more often in the new year)


I'm probably aware of 2016's losses in a more keen way than what any other aspect of the year stands out. First in those people who passed on: Prince, David Bowie, Elie Weisel, Mohammad Ali, Johan Cruyff, Umberto Eco, Gwen Ifill, Fidel Castro Leonard Cohen, Carrie Fischer. These are only a few, but these are people who impacted me at some point in my life, or continue to impact me. Combine that seeming onslaught of prominent people passing with the monumentally disgusting loss to Donald Trump that took place in November, 2016 as a year, was not a great one. (I'm not yet able to think clearly or constructively about our President Elect. Maybe sometime, but not yet.) I've also dealt with the loss of a major set of relationships associated with a contract at work. Again I recognize that as a loss, but I'm not sure that I have dealt with it in a way that is helpful  yet.


So as I consider a year with a number of losses in it, I look forward to a new year with trepidation. I want it to be better. I want to make better choices. I want to do better when it comes to family and to friends. But I also worry about the mathematical result of progress and that it means loss in the future as well. What I'm saying is that 2016 won't be the last year I experience loss. I'd love for that to be the case, but reality remains in play.


So anyway, I purpose to live life in 2017 with more intentional love. to do better at listening and paying attention to the loved ones in my life, to read more and talk less, to cook more and eat less, to spend my spare time with others instead of by myself. and to always be real to myself and to the people I love.


Happy New Year to everyone reading this. and to everyone else, I suppose. Maybe I'll be back before next New Years.