January 2021

🐰🐰 A Message for the New Year 

I have shared with some of you one of my favorite quotes, "If it's good, it's wonderful.  If it's bad, it's experience."  I can't think of a better way to sum up 2020. 

We have emerged with experience we never imagined we would gain in our short lives.  And while we are all a bit battle worn, we are still standing.  We have demonstrated courage, we have faced our fears with grace, and we have coped using humor and creativity.  We have learned to cope with loss and change, and we have found ways to thrive and stand steadfast with the world in chaos around us.  Our routines were disrupted and our values were challenged, and we did the hard work of self reflection.  We learned to celebrate small victories and to cherish the connections that matter most.

After the challenges of 2020, it's time to welcome 2021 and all its hope and opportunity.  We enter the year with faith and love, and with supports and skills and resources we didn't possess a year ago.  We face the unknown armed with the successes and resilience we earned over the past year, so we are better prepared to set our intentions for the year ahead.  I am grateful to join you in your journey as we greet the new year with peace and optimism.  I wish you and your loved ones health, wealth, and happiness.  And I thank you for the lessons you have taught me and will continue to teach me in our time together.

Each year I share the following as a part of my own intentions:

Resolve to be Tender with the Young,

Compassionate with the Aged,

Sympathetic with the Striving,

and Tolerant with the Weak and Wrong.

Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these.

(Gautama Buddha)