Beware...and Revel!

So, there are two strands in this send-off meditation from 2019. But before that, to you and yours, a healthy, hearty, happy New Year! And for those who celebrate a different calendar, we'll celebrate that too. But a new decade dawns, and we pray it will be full of less peril and full of more promise, and that we'll do our individual and collective part in fulfilling that hope.

No one is guaranteed safety. Crossing the street can kill you, and it does, on too many tragic occasions. You can fall fatally in a bathtub. A routine surgery can lead to your demise. An airbag in a car, meant to save you, can cause agonizing injury. 

So, antennae up, gratitude flowing, wallow in every blessed moment. It's not "guaranteed," it's a gift. And if the "gift" seems to sour, remember Dickens, "Nature gives to every time and season, some beauties of its own."

If you miss your youthful vitality, revel in your burgeoning wisdom. We may not ski with as much abandon, but then hopefully some of our petulance and inner anxiety has been partially quelled. Where you groped to "get," perhaps you are now also blessed to "give." 

Bask in what is, love it, cherish it, enhance it. The best demonstrator of mental and emotional health is the capacity for gratitude. Immerse in it. 

And let's tip a hat at the inexplicable wonder of our shared humanity. As we do, life wins!

Happy New Year!