A Blank Page

The page just turned on the new year. I have heard so many say they cannot wait for 2021 like it will bring a magical end to all of the dreadful things that have happened this past year. But I invite everyone to look at this in a different way. Yes, many things have happened since the beginning of 2020. Many changes have taken place.

As we look around, we all look different. Many of us feel so different. Many of us have lost so very much. It has been like a war in many ways.

But I invite you to make a list of what you have gained. A friend of mine gave me a new journal. I have been given many journals over the years because my family and friends know that I love to read and write. Even if you do not read or write, take a piece of paper and do this.

Allow your mind to start in March and walk through the year, thinking of the good things that may have happened.

Even in the darkest times, my life when my friends that loved me the most guided my thoughts. They helped me look at the things that were still there when I thought I lost everything. When you take the time to make a list of what is left that is good, it makes it tangible and real and separates it from the things that happened that are dark and negative. I am forever grateful to those friends, counselors and even the people that I no longer am close to that helped me take a hard look at what was good in my life that is left after the fire burned out. Because sometimes there are things that are left in the ashes.

Sometimes even the ashes are good for something. Ashes can feed rosebushes, provide traction for ice on a sidewalk or a road.

Many things may stay very much the same this year in our lives, but if we hang onto the things that stay with us that are good and positive, the things in our lives that give us comfort and warmth, I know that we can continue to love and live together in our communities and build new bridges and partnerships.

This piece was not ready on the first day of the year, but as my journals become covered with words, my life is beginning to look more hopeful. I am trying to place words of gratitude on my blank pages each day. It takes discipline to choose positive words and sentences on the page. I am finding that when I write them there on the blank page, they are filling my mind, forming words in my mouth, and beginning to change my actions and my life. 

Thanks for reading,

M.V.