Reflection on the New Year

 As we move forward into this new year of 2021, it's important to reflect on its first three ideals:

Believe
Balance
Breathe

Find something you believe in, and work toward realizing it.  We often consider these resolutions or goals, but they are actually beliefs about who or what we want to be in the coming year.  Change takes time, however, and without believing in the things we want to change, there can be no actual progress toward them.  So don't stop believing.  (Hold on to that feeling!)

Learning to find a balance between doing and being--between the ups and the downs that life inevitably will hand us, is as important as believing in our hopes and dreams.  If we do so much that we become burnt out or overwhelmed, it can make it harder to start again when the time is right.  Knowing when to ask for help, when to take a step back, and when to keep pushing for that last little inch is a lifelong endeavor.  Balance is something we learn to do over time--trial and error--falling down and rising up again.  But each time we fall, let it be a lesson learned so that it takes a little longer and we go a little further until the next time everything gets out of balance.

And lastly...breathe.  As important as we might believe everything to be, if we don't take the time to notice where we are, it may be harder in the future to know where we've been.  Take a moment for yourself--take a moment to remember that breathing sustains this life we are living.  And be grateful for this one little thing that makes all the other great ones possible.

And so onward into the new year, bolstered by these reflections, let us boldly go!

Breathe

It is one of the most important and often the least recognized parts of living as a human being--breathing.

There is little wonder why many different kinds of exercises focus so much time and energy on breathing.  Anyone who's studied singing knows that breathing is essential to learning how to sing.  Women who are pregnant learn to focus on their breathing to help lessen the pain and stress of giving birth.  And meditations often stress focusing on breathing as a way to destress and relax.

If we are unable to breathe, we will die.

Sometimes breathing is about more than just taking air in and out of our bodies; sometimes it is about giving ourselves space to simply be ourselves.  Sometimes it's about the need for freedom.  "I Can't Breathe" has become a rallying cry against oppression and racism.  The wind is sometimes referred to as the breath of god or gods, and in poetry, it becomes the spirit of those who have departed this life returning to remind or comfort us.

And yet, very often, we forget how important it is.

Don't forget to take some time to reflect on your breaths--to realize the power within them.  Remind yourself of the fragility of life, and remember to be grateful for each breath you have taken and will take.

And when you are feeling stressed out or overwhelmed by all that life is throwing at you, take a moment to simply breathe--in and out.

In.

Out.

You can come back to everything else, but breathing is important.

Remember to Breathe: Painting by Olivia Jones

Remember to Breathe.

Balance

Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 Learning to balance is one of the many things we learn as children.  Some of us come by it naturally, and some of us still struggle with it now that we're older.  But balance is essential to growth.  Without the right balance, ...well, humans wouldn't be here right now, for one.

Today, try to remember those childhood lessons on balance.  Remember how often you fell, and how often you were likely encouraged to try again.

Mastery takes time and determination.  So when you're stuck, don't be afraid to fall and get back up again.  The place where you land will be different every time, and it might help you learn something important so that one day you'll be able to balance for a little longer.

Also, balance is about understanding what is important, and what isn't.  Often we can get distracted by our fears, or even our hopes and dreams.  It's okay to be afraid; it's a good thing to hope and to dream.  But don't let your goals drown in things undone and things untried.

And don't forget that sometimes it's important to seek out the help of others.  See-saws are built for people on either side, after all.  So ask for help when you need a hand up again, or need a little encouragement to keep you going.  Balanced with your own determination, you'll find something that works for you--eventually.

Believe

 Today is the first day of a new year.  It may feel the same as yesterday, but it is not.  Each day is a chance to begin again.

This first day of the new year, let us remember that it is our beliefs that make us who we are.

Happy New Year!

Dare to believe in your dreams.

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe

Creator: Petra C Dorothy 

An Open Letter to Congressman Duncan Hunter (CA-50)

I recently found a post that contained the names of the people who interrupted yesterday's proceedings within the SCIF being used to question people involved in the current matter of Ukraine.  One of the names I found there was a representative of California, and because of that, I felt like I had a responsibility to reach out and let them know how I felt about their behavior.  While I have similar concerns with the other representatives who were there to interrupt the investigation, because Duncan Hunter lives here in California, I felt a more personal connection and wanted to write him a letter expressing my feelings about what he'd done.

No.  He isn't my current representative, and for that reason, I wasn't able to send him this letter (though I did try through his website: https://hunter.house.gov/contact#form_3F4F3585-C4B4-4800-9512-142CD7E3CF86 ).  Apparently he only accepts contact from within his own distract, (I certainly can't fault him for that.)  So, I had to resort to publishing my thoughts here.  This was not something I wanted nor intended to do; I had hoped to simply leave these thoughts in an e-mail to him and his team and leave the matter a private discourse between us both--assuming he was willing to offer a reply to my obvious criticism; (he might not have thought it warranted a reply, after all, though I did check the box asking for one.)

Still, he represents California; he stands as a pillar of who we, as Californians, are.  Certainly the concerns of his district are paramount, but in this particular instance, while he may have been representing the beliefs and concerns of a majority of his constituents, he was also acting in concert with the Republican Party--a national organization that has a greater reach outside of just his district here in California.  And for that reason, as a citizen of this country, and as a resident of California, I believe it's important to speak to my fellow Californian, because, in a way, I feel his actions spoke for me.

Dipping a Foot into the Deep End

You know how they say that you should do something that scares you every day?  Well, I may not do that -every- day, but lately I've been looking at myself and trying to find the things that actually make me happy.  It's not that I don't know how to be happy, of course, but what is it in life that actually makes me happy?

Being with John, of course--that's easy and a given, but everything else is sort of a mixed bag.  Even reading, which I love, isn't always easy.  For example, I've started reading The Library Book, but trying to get back to it has been...daunting.

Wheel in the Sky Keeps on Turnin'

The song has nothing to do with what I want to talk about, but I needed a title for this post, and that song came to mind.  It’s been a while, again, but I’m here because some things have been banging around in my head.  And it’s time to put it in writing so maybe I’ll stop waking up in the morning wishing that I’d sit down and say it already.

For years we’ve been saying that we can’t do anything about these mass shootings.  We’ve got a constitutional amendment that prohibits us from making things better.  We can’t mess with perfection.  But if perfection is sitting by while innocent people get killed because we don’t do anything about it, then I think I’m done with “perfection.”

There will be those of you who say that gun laws and registration aren’t going to change anything.  Moreover, they’re going to make things worse.  And so far, you certainly aren’t wrong, because the gun laws we do have don’t seem to be working.  What this tells me is that maybe we need to look at this from a new perspective.

Maybe it’s time we look for new solutions to a problem which hasn’t been addressed because certain people on both sides of the aisle have been neglecting their responsibilities; it’s time we address the problems with gun ownership and gun violence in this country.  To say or do otherwise is an injustice to every life lost due to careless governance.

I don’t have all the answers, but at least I’m trying to find solutions.  And I’m no scientist or expert, but I know that reading about school shootings and mass shootings and church shootings and terrorist attacks isn’t going to change anything.  It is only when I stand up and say, “This isn’t right.  We need to change something,” that change can occur.

Our Second Amendment was written with the idea that each state would have a militia—a place where people would gather to learn about and teach about weapons and warfare and field medicine and how to ensure that people who are willing to stand up and fight for something are doing it to make a better place for everyone—not just some of us.  The militia was meant to serve as the first point of contact in emergencies—to be there when people in their state needed help.  And they were the first line of defense when anyone, including the federal government, sought to curtail the laws and rights of its citizens.

But rather than choosing to work with the mindset of a militia, we’ve got people touting the right of anyone and everyone to have weapons and use them, because it’s our “God-given right.”  Not even God in the Bible allowed everyone in the tribes to fight for Him.  He tasked his commanders with choosing those who would be given weapons.  And maybe it’s time that we took a page from religion and realize that not everyone is willing or able to handle the responsibility of having a weapon.

Maybe it’s time that we change how we look at gun ownership in America.

I’d like to leave that up to the States, of course, because that’s where the militia idea first started.  It seems fitting, then, that states should have the right to decide how to run and govern their militia.  But then you run into a lot of other problems on a federal level—especially when it comes to federal crimes and gun-smuggling across state lines (look at Chicago.)  But this is what I’m trying to say: it’s time we talked about this.

Because what we’ve been doing hasn’t been working.  And I know there are greater minds out there than my own who can look for a better solution than the antagonistic and morbid rhetoric we continue to hear every time another innocent life is lost due to gun violence.

And maybe we won’t get it right the first time; maybe we’ll have to try again.  But if we continue to do nothing, then I posit that we are no better than the people pulling the trigger and ending those innocent lives.