No work. Too cold and dreary for a picturing outing. Vacuumed. Mopped. Cleaned counters and bathrooms. Listened to gentle music. Meditated. Worked on a jig saw puzzle. Petted my four legged children. Watched squirrels and birds feed on fresh seed. Slow hot shower. Gathered things for work tomorrow. Found the funeral home for my co-worker’s funeral tomorrow. He was 35. He had a wife and two daughters aged 6 and 2. Semi hit him on the highway. Treated myself to chocolate drizzled popcorn. Finished my laundry. Took time to notice the coffee I was drinking.

I would propose that my day is a realistic version of the new year ahead. Activity and simply being. Joy and grief. Self care and caring for others. Some days crystal clear while others leave us in a fog. We cannot grasp one or try to avoid the other. That’s life. That’s our guru teaching us.

May all our resolutions, hopes, and journeys begun this day, be rooted in that which binds life’s opposites – gratitude.

” Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, ‘You owe me.’ Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.” ~ Hafiz