WRING-OUT
Wednesday Dec. 31, 2014
Rapprochement.
I like this word’s feel.
French origin/pronunciation evoke pleasant feelings, as does its meaning.
Finding it used twice in a matter of hours makes me say hmm ….
Last night, in an email from mutually-exiled friend.
This morning it showed up again – in an online op-ed headline.
Today’s word-calendar’s last 2014 page, this quote from Ronald Reagan:
“This is not the end of everything. This is the beginning of everything.”
This year, done.
We choose which end of telescopes we look through.
Take the larger view, not the tiny one.
Someone observed recently, that a year from now most of us will be about the same in most respects in our lives. I believe, for most people, that will be so. Sadly so for many.
Having just come off a year of very significant changes, heading into one that already has many life-altering ideas on tap, I cannot imagine a better way to embrace it than to embrace it.
How to do that?
Open arms, rather than closed ones.
Open mind (not letting good stuff fall out), letting new things, new ideas and new people in.
Cultivating new friendships, lots of them, with a focus on younger ones …
Making more time for family, in actions, rather than thoughts …
Taking care, in better ways, of health and direction of everything I do – better focused, better driven, unrelentingly active.
Happy celebrations everyone – and may your New Year’s Eve truly wring-out things best left behind. May you all have a little cup of rapprochement in your hearts as, I think, a form of lubricant or libation which risks a little and rewards a lot.
Mark Kolke
column written/ published from Calgary, AB
morning walk: -5C/23F, dark and clear, calm and warming – soft snow, happy dog, good walk – the perfect start to an early start on the year’s last day of work and appointments
Reader feedback:
My thanks to JF in Calgary for taking the time to comment on my comment and in such a perceptive & encouraging note. I work in mental health and need to practice what I preach and count my blessings instead of my problems. Thank you, MLD, Memphis, TN
Happy New Year. And that column was horribly depressing!, VP, Red Deer Lake, AB
