“For those who feel helpless in the face of insurmountable suffering, we are still in the early years of the 21st century. There is time for us to create a better, happier world, but we can’t sit back and expect a miracle. We each have actions we must take, by living our lives meaningfully and in service to our fellow human beings — helping others whenever we can and making every effort to do them no harm”. ~ Dalai Lama

I was so looking forward to 2017. It was to be an amazing year.  The hopes and dreams and big plans were to be fulfilling, uplifting, and exciting, but such was not the case.

What 2017 brought was a shock, health issues, wide-spread aggression, lies, and taciturnity.

Our leadership changed, and deception seemed to creep in behind it. A conflict of interest making decisions that would help themselves and those in high financial playing fields, a chosen few. Those like me were not selected or included in the game, we were not even allowed a ticket to watch, we were told to get over it and basically get out of the way before we got run over.

“Oh hell, never mind, we’re going to run you over anyway because we can.”

That is how I felt, and I’m sure others did too. We began to keep our views and ideas to ourselves, rather than risk being attacked for even having an opinion or mocked because we refused to accept this form of insanity.

Friendships were shattered, family members fought with each other, having morals all of sudden became dirty and laughable.

I’d given this last blog for 2017 as much thought as possible between trying to understand how condemning the news is not a terrible thing. How banning people from entering our country is deflecting from the American terrorists killing our own people. Or that we are now living in more fear with the threat of a nuclear war than ever before in history, oh, and celebrating Christmas. Wow.

2017 will go down in the record books for sure, but what was positive about it?

How can a writer share their thoughts or raise questions to be considered and do so in a positive light, when we seem to be surrounded by prickly darkness?

We write.

We continue to put ourselves out there, unashamed and bold.

We follow the example of the formidable and fearless #MeToo.

We listen and hear instead of assuming and squashing a point of view before attempting to understand the position.

It is only by persevering can we keep our values strong and our morals sound. It doesn’t matter if you are a writer or not, but do what you feel good about. What you are proud you can accomplish or find the simple joys doing. It is those simple joys that can gather together and form a solid foundation in your life, that no one can topple. If you once loved to draw, dig out that sketchbook, or treat yourself to another. If you love to read, make time for just one chapter a day/night. You’ll be surprised how many books you finish in a year. Expand your mind yes, but give it a break too. Go for a walk, I know that may sound ridiculously simple. But it is in those simple actions many positive things can happen. It frees your mind and soul, it gives you a chance to ponder or daydream, it gives your dog great happiness, it strengthens your heart and will help you sleep better. It fights disease without side effects!

We may not be able to control every aspect of life, but we can control ourselves, and by doing so, we go from fragile to resilient.

When your mind is at ease, everything around you is easier to cope with, by consciously adjusting your responses gives you the ability to go with the flow which is a lot less stressful. I think more than ever this is vitally important, to be mindful and actively pursue mindfulness, for our souls and our sanity.

Such is not the case can transform into such IS the case.

These easy steps can take our power back. You may not like how things are going right now, how leadership is leading or failing to lead, you may not agree with any policies or are striving to change and upgrade policies, but you can make a positive difference, starting with yourself.

Can you imagine if we ALL choose to do this?

So it is with a bright and happy smile I bid 2017 goodbye and good riddance. Let’s send it off with a bang and a ball drop and start fresh, doing what brings us simple pleasures, makes us smile, encourages us to feel good right into and throughout the New Year. In any case, I think this is a resolution we can keep and enjoy success, no matter what the next year brings.