My success is probably due to actually not having a New Year’s resolution.
Nevertheless, I do make resolutions. I have goals. I make plans, some simple and some complicated. I also fail, sometimes spectacularly. And sometimes those goals and plans change with time.
Every day is an opportunity to begin. To make a plan. To set a goal. I like to keep mine simple — not necessarily easy — just simple.
One of the great benefits of moving away from a large city is discovering the ways people interact with the natural world. I’m used to nice grocery stores, neat packaging, and organized rows of buildings. A lovely cityscape at night with the bright neon colors and lights can be quite breathtaking.
But there’s also something calming and serene in a fishing community. This morning I woke up to these guys fishing right in front of us. They are quick, methodical, and fascinating to watch — it’s a strange ballet to see their coordinated efforts to lay and then collect the nets.
The fishermen keep only the legal size of what they’re fishing and throw everything back into the water, so the pelicans immediately show up to see what’s going on. The men collect the debris caught in their nets and repurpose or dispose of it. My favorite part is watching the birds follow the men long after they have finished and taken off with their catch. Greedy little birds want more.
Haha. Don’t we always want more? What a subtle lesson to pick up from them as they work. Take what you can use. Share what you don’t use. And leave things neater and better than when you got there.
I love a gloomy day every once in a while. It keeps the glorious sunny days fresh — I can’t appreciate the beauty of a sunny day if I don’t have its contrast.
But to be fair — I could say the same about the sunny days — they help me appreciate the beauty of an overcast or rainy day. I love a good storm. I love the monochromatic colorless day that, in its rarity, sparkles in a natural black and white filter.
I love to put on a ridiculous outfit of fuzzy socks, sweatpants, and flannel shirt, the more mismatched the better, and run a pot of coffee or brew a pot of tea, and sit somewhere near the gray light and read. Or pray. Or write. Or all of it, to the soothing soundtrack of a soft rain.
