Remember the cluttered bulletin boards I mentioned at the beginning of the year? I shared my intention to re-do them and told you I had written it on my do-list. Well, I did redesign them, and I’m pleased with the result. They contain photos of a few of my pals, little “pokes” that say things like “Smile”, “Celebrate What Is,” “Doodle, “Read,” a couple of my ink doodles, and quotes and slogans and reminders that unfailingly wake me up.
The largest piece on the first board has grabbed my attention more than once this week. I don’t know the source. I heard it somewhere and scribbled it down. Anyway, here’s what it says: “Look around you. Appreciate what you have. Nothing will be the same in a year.”
I don’t know about you, but for me, that’s like, Pow! It just smacks me in the face with its wisdom and plain truth.
Here’s something else about that little group of sentences. It instantly reflects to you your level of optimism. Do the changes you imagine might be coming at you, at us all, in the coming year prompt feelings of hope and anticipation? Or do they evoke ripples of fear and dread?
There’s no right or wrong answer to that, by the way. You feel what you feel. The sentences just give you a way to notice what that is.
But I will say this about fear. Again, it’s a sentence I scribbled down while listening to something. I do that a lot. It’s why I’m developing a process for dealing with the scraps of paper I scribble on all the time. But that’s another story. The thing I heard about fear was “Fear is putting faith in what you don’t want to happen.” It could also be putting faith in what you think has happened or is happening now. Regardless of the time frame, fear is agreeing with yourself to believe in the thing that scares you. And unless that thing is standing right in front of you and growling in your face, you’re imagining it and putting faith in its reality.
There’s no judgment with that. It’s just an interesting observation about fear. It intrigues me because it asks me to evaluate where I’m putting my faith and my energy and attention.
We’re in the middle of a cold-snap here, the silver lining of which, for me, has been time to sit at my keyboard and dream. I gaze up at my bulletin boards and send loving thoughts to the pals pictured there, I read a quote or a prompt. I’ve resumed doodling. Eventually my eyes fall on the rectangle with the words, “Look around. Appreciate what you have. Nothing will be the same in a year,” and I give thanks.
Wishing you a week of appreciation and well-placed faith.
Warmly,
Susan
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay