By Margaret Wiltshire
One of the luxuries of living in rural New Mexico is the wide open spaces. Even if you haven’t picked up 10 acres or more of our western desert landscape, we have plenty of parks and vistas to enjoy.
Now the mornings are cooler and the afternoons are bearable. It is time to get things done for the winter months ahead. It is time to harvest and prepare for the cold that will come.
It is a great time to be, to think, and make changes. It is a great time to spend outside with family and friends.
One problem with New Year’s resolutions is that this tradition falls on the day that it does. One way or another, we have just gotten through the holidays. More then anything, many of us just want to hibernate on New Year’s Day.
Hibernation is a good resolution for January 1.
Till then, there is much to be done. As any good bear knows, now is the time to do it.
With school starting, families have an opportunity to set new and better schedules. What routines work for the family now, which ones don’t?
Successful organizations usually have mission statements. Gather the family around the table, include everyone, and make a mission statement. Let everyone set reasonable goals for themselves and the family.
Done with love and respect, this is a great way to learn more about each member of the family. Does each family member have a place to rest, relax and play? A place and time to learn new things. Each family member needs space to be.
Does someone whine or bully; and who plays judge? Families with one of these conditions, usually have all of these conditions. These are often the conditions of fear. The fears can be current or past, long past.
They can mean professional help is needed but sometimes they just need to be noticed. Noticed without blame, without tags, without role assignments. These conditions could mean some family members are not trusting that they have any space to be. Respect is a great place to be, for children and adults.
We often make the short cut “assumption” about one another. Assumptions usually only “short” cut truth. We grow, we change, we weather storms. Just as each year’s harvest varies, we are different then we were. Remaining the same isn’t stability, it’s dead, inanimate and a very vulnerable space to be in.
We want our children to grow, to develop. Most of us want to continue to grow and develop, learn new and better skills and generally “get more” out of life. It surprises me to see children and adults get so upset about the changes in people and in situations.
“Change is the only constant.” Originally attributed to Heracles, a strong man indeed. If change is a subject that interests, troubles or excites you, you may enjoy an on-line search about what others have said about it.
Albert Einstein had much more to offer the world then math and scientific theory. This is what he had to say about change: “The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
Now we harvest all the good and all the bad of our past; we prepare to survive our future. The winter hibernation is a good time to grow, to learn, to change.
If you care about the world you live in check out ClimateStar.org (six degrees) and 350.org. It’s your nest.
The opinions stated here are not necessarily those of the Mountain Mail.
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