THANK YOU, for hanging with me in 2021.

Tomorrow we mark the end of 2021. 

I’m fortunate to have a big group of friends who gather every NYE in Westerly, RI. There are usually 12 adults and six kids. Because of Covid, we didn’t gather last year.

This year planning started early. There was definite excitement at the idea of gathering again and then…

Another wave of Covid. 

A few people on the east coast will be making the drive, but now one family is out sick, and two of us from the west coast have nixed the idea of getting on a plane and traveling for a full day. 

It reminds me of the story of the boy and the Zen Master. 

The boy’s father bought him a horse for his sixteenth birthday, and everyone in the village said, “Isn’t that wonderful, the boy got a horse?”

And the Zen Master says, “We’ll see.”

One day, the boy is thrown from the horse and is hurt and can no longer walk. Everyone in the village said, “Oh, how terrible!”

And the Zen Master says, “We’ll see.”

A short time later, a war begins, and all the young men of the village are taken away to be soldiers, but this young man can’t fight, so he is spared, and everyone in the village says, “How wonderful!”

And the Zen Master says, “We’ll see.” 

To me, the point of this story is that when something happens, it’s neither good nor bad until we attach a meaning to it. 

I’m super bummed to miss seeing my friends, but now I have a wide-open calendar that I had blocked out to travel. 

It’s raining here in Los Angeles, and I have several books I’ve wanted to read. 

My invite to you is to take a look at an area in your life that you’ve attached meaning to that makes it “bad.” Is there any other way for you to look at it?

Instead of good or bad…can you practice the idea that it just is? 

Happy New Year, my dear friend. 

I’m genuinely grateful and appreciative that you’re here with me every week.