Looking into the future

Well it's the start of a New Year and things just go rolling on. 

Time of course pays no reference to our quirk of placing so much importance on events which we note by the passage of time.

Birthdays, holidays, festivals, all are either looked forward to, or remembered, hopefully with pleasure as signposts during the year. Nostalgia plays its part, that sentimental yearning for a time gone by or a person missing in your life, made more acute by the festivities around you.

It's hard to gatherer ones resources and continue to plough on when there seems such little value in doing so but we do, through the routine we have suckered ourselves with, the breakfast ritual, the early morning walk, the call on the shop to pick up the newspaper and the milk. 

Without the drive of employment and the crack of the whip to guide you forward we become a bit rudderless in this the first stage of the new year and it's now that we are most vulnerable. Living in the Northern Hemisphere it's winter and the weather is at its least attractive, our spirits kept low by the dark and the rain. I often turn this on its head by marvelling how fortunate I am to have a secure roof over my head where I am warm and well fed. Looking out of the window as the rain beats against glass I feel like the pig who built his house of brick and was secure from the Wolf no matter what was going on outside. This sense of security is a foundation on which to build ones spirits and it becomes the linch pin for everything we do throughout the year. 

As we venture out we have the return journey to look forward to, the key in the door and the familiarity of a cup of hot tea. I was going to say,  and a tasty bacon sandwich but I will get into trouble from my Vegan friends.

Life goes on. Some are lucky to be choosing a summer cruise and a year full of events. They are the resourceful ones who look forward to, as much the planning, as the actual business of setting off. The brochures depict the places in bright technicolor and the Copywriter is an expert at creating  a scene to wet the appetite. 

Even a trip down to see old Jim has its anticipatory value although one must beware that Jim is, unlike yourself, getting old, maybe a little senile and the conversation drys up in the first half hour. The real unfortunates are the ones who haven't the resources to travel but then even here there is often a stoic understanding that within a small radius one has more than enough and for many who do get up and go somewhere, when asked, are sorely tried to describe much more than the hotel they stayed in !!

So we are where we are, treating each day as an opportunity to do something different, or better, as an opportunity to be at peace with oneself and just chill !!!

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