We are 2/3 ‘s through the holiday triad – Thanksgiving, Christmas/Chanukah and New Year’s Eve. Have you checked in with yourself lately? Rested, exhausted? Hungry, full? Excited, lethargic? After partying and drinking New Year’s Eve, a wake of stresses, strains, goals and resolutions vie for consideration as 2014 arrives leaving us thrilled, amazed and nostalgic. But New Year’s is a contrived landmark.

HAPPY 2014!

Realistically we are given ample time to ponder and act upon what we choose to lose, change or enhance. Life is a continual striving, refinement, and purification. We learn direction and skill from our mistakes which makes failure a learning experience of substantial value. Ask Ben Franklin. I have not made any overt resolutions this year. At this point in my life I seek to be kinder, softer, more compassionate, better behaved. To myself and to others. Mind you this DOES NOT mean behaving like a doormat, allowing people to tread on you or turning the other cheek at the cost of yourself. It’s a goal of magnitude, trust me, and the closer I think I’m getting the further I find I have to go. But I can live with that.

Lately I see life lessons everywhere and hear my intuition with increased clarity. I’m also listening more closely. This serves to make me a happier and more responsible human being, Much of this is related to maturity and experience because I knew the same information decades ago, I just wasn’t sure what to do with the information I received, nor did I trust myself enough to heed it. Sometimes I get the message but miss nuances. Sometimes the parts don’t arrive on the same schedule. Life, lessons and love can go that way.