Goodbye 2018

It certainly has been a volatile year on the political stage all around the world. There has been a dramatic swing to the extreme right in many countries as well as in many families. Civility dropped out of politics and common sense seems to have been erased by both tribalism and too much political correctness. I can only hope that this is a tiny blip in reality.

On a personal level I have found that people in my inner circle and moving outwards to those who are in contact with me from afar and those who treat me as a patient are all amazing people. I would say that 100% of those who I come in contact with, on a person to person level, are NICE PEOPLE. I feel very relieved by this because it as noted, on the world stage I find a very different sort of attitude. This just reinforces my belief that most people are good in the real sense of the word and that circumstances can cause a person to “slip” into doing something wrong, perhaps. Most people just want to be happy and most people genuinely care about those around them.

If 2018 has taught me anything it is that staying true to one’s self, staying positive, believing in miracles and having a little faith is what makes a person strong. Having a circle of loving family, friends and care givers makes it just that much better.

May all my CIRCLE be blessed and start 2019 on the right foot! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Creating Peace in the Family

As the year draws to a close and the world prays for peace on earth even amidst the worst devastation in decades I look inward and wish for peace in the family.  Of course I hope for peace in the world, among friends and colleagues, in neighbourhoods and so forth but when all is said and done the influence on and in the family is the strongest.  As I went through the latest meditation with Deepak and as I review the notes I took over the 21 days I feel grateful to know these are both profound and simple steps to making our everyday lives plain, simple and peaceful.

Christmas time can be both lovely, happy and connecting but it can also create high expectations that could be dashed through simple misunderstandings, carelessness or thoughtlessness for, by or to others.  It takes true inner understanding and strength to let go of disappointment and move forward into a new year with solid resolutions for peace and goodwill toward all.

I am from a family with strong personalities, deep convictions and loud voices.  When we get together we can be a little overpowering to non-family members, in-laws and friends alike.  As we get older I sometimes think about an article Ann Landers wrote wherein she excused herself for cutting off other people because she got over-excited and needed to make her point.  The fact of the matter was that she was entering middle age and from personal experience I think we suddenly forget our manners because we are so afraid of forgetting what we were going to say!  I’ve had to give myself many a mental shake to stop cutting other people off by saying to myself “Ann Landers moment”.  I am not cured and my siblings are so not cured but occasionally we will create rules for ourselves taken from “Lord of the Flies”.  Hey, I have the conch now; or I am ringing the bell, or I have the feather.  Sometimes it works but mostly we just raise our voices an octave higher.  It doesn’t help that some of the siblings are getting a little deaf and others are menopausal.

Oh to be on high as the eldest and the most evolved.  And not one of my siblings can trump “I have the most life experience”.  Dad used to kill me with that one but now I am the one holding that particular card.

Gotcha. 

And may you have Peace on Earth.  J

Personal 2016 Summation

The year is drawing to an end and I felt slightly hesitant in reflecting over my personal year until I reviewed my desk journal.  So let me begin by saying that I am truly grateful for the impulse that made me buy “Jumpstart Your Thinking” by John Maxwell since it inspired me to use the business journal to set down not only goals but daily tasks and successes.  This has helped me to feel accountable for my days in a positive way rather than as a dreaded challenge.  I was able to log my progress in my reading, my studies, my adventures with the hens & bees and all the new plantings in my garden.

I have a few days left in my “Bible in One Year” reading and will give you those reflections in another blog but I feel very happy to know that I have finally read the bible cover to cover.  Overlapping the reading I have finished two Yale courses that covered both the Old & New Testaments which really assisted in putting my bible reading on a different level (historical rather than religious).  Supplemental to that I read nearly a dozen books on spirituality and other religions; again this will be recounted in an additional blog.  But I can with perfect satisfaction make a mental tick on the goal of “studying religions” with the help of John Maxwell helpful guidance.

I took time in the spring to plan my garden as well as set my long term strategy to create a sustainable farm.  This meant holding off on buying any bee hives yet seek out a mentor to help me get a more solid foundation for when I do start beekeeping in earnest.  I therefore concentrated on increasing my chicken flock and studying their habits in the hopes of someday becoming a Chicken Whisperer.  Frankly I am not so sure that this is possible as my death toll versus recovery has been sadly unbalanced.  My frugal nature has not allowed me to take a $6 chicken to the vet and my Google experience on hen ailments has not led me to a proper diagnosis of most of the hens (or I may be catching the symptoms when they are too far gone).  Nevertheless I get considerable amusement out of my girls and I know that I will keep my brood for many years to come.

If I had only known that we were going to get the rainiest summer on record I would have planted more fruit trees and bushes but I did manage to plant two lovely apple trees, some cherry and blueberries bushes as well as a half dozen gooseberry bushes.  I also set up a beautiful raised bed of strawberries with a bird net to protect them from those voracious birds.  I saw my asparagus plantings from the year before come back to life which encouraged me to expand the plantings further.  The vegetable garden was somewhat pathetic but I did get a good crop of potatoes and zucchini.  The lesson learned was that some of the vegetables do better in the ground rather than in a raised bed so I will have to structure the vegetable patch a little more next spring.  My one failure this summer was not getting any raspberries in as the ones planted the previous year did not survive.  I shall be more aggressive with them this coming spring since I love raspberries.

I had a few adventures in beekeeping and was initiated into bee stings with no trouble worth mentioning.  This winter I am going to experiment with making creamed honey as I believe this will aid me in marketing my honey in years to come.  Marketing for both the honey and the eggs is one of the things I have been studying this fall and winter but at the end of the day my feeling is that I want to enjoy my retirement hobbies rather than create a highly profitable business.  If I can earn a little living I shall be pleased but I am not out to make a killing.  I take Wendell Berry’s statement to heart which really helps keep me in balance when I become a little too ambitious.

Through all the activity I managed to retain an active social life and stayed connected with many of my former colleagues as well as rejuvenating my book club.  Friendship, I realize, need constant attention and nurturing if they are going to survive for the long haul.  If one is sensitive it can sometimes seem as though all the burden falls on you but this is where I find that I personally need to stay humble as well as empathetic which is challenging sometimes.  Three 21-Day Oprah & Deepak Meditations this year has assisted in centering those characteristics, pride and egotism.  The three sessions were Finding the Lightness in Your Life, Getting Unstuck Leads to Fulfillment and Creating Peace from the Inside Out.  The sessions are offered free every few months and are very valuable in looking inward.

To sum up the year, it has been one of reflection, of activity and of social living.  The world is both complex and simple; people are complex and simple and life is both simple and complex.  You may think “she isn’t saying much” but then you may want to think a little deeper and go “ah, now I see”. 

Wrapping up the Year

We are coming to the end of the year and we hear the highlights of 2015 from the perspective of journalists of one sort or another.  It may be useful for individuals to take a look at their personal year and evaluate how it looked in January and how many expectations were achieved and where you fell short.

My January was full of enthusiasm for the spring, anticipating a terrific year in the garden, a European trip in the summer and more achievements for the fall.  Despite breaking my wrist in May I felt I had a terrific first half of the year, in fact a great 8 months but to be honest I have felt a little bit of floundering these last four months.  Thinking about it now I believe I just such a successful first year in retirement that it was going to be hard to match that momentum going forward.  Considering further I think I am being too hard on myself because one shouldn’t plot out year after year because then you are not living in the moment which is something I am learning about in my study of Buddhism.

So perhaps I am feeling slightly disappointed that I didn’t have more visible signs of a successful year because I didn’t build anything these last four months but not being visible doesn’t mean there hasn’t been growth or improvement.  I fondly hope that I am learning something of value with my studies in theology even though I am far from being the angelic being one would perhaps hope for.

So what I know for sure is this – we all need to cut ourselves some slack when we do the evaluation; you can be honest with yourself but you also need to be gentle and compassionate.  After all, we are only human.