Words from the Heart

Quite a few years back, I realized that making resolutions for New Year's was often a futile and humiliating process.  After all, most people never make it past the first month of the new year, let alone all twelve, before failing.  Once I realized this, I set about changing. A resolution should be something that A. is easy to accomplish, B. brings you as much satisfaction as it does anyone else and C. add to your life (and to the betterment of the world).  In the past few years, I have found gratitude daily, looked for beauty in each day, discovered moments of joy, etc. Rather than getting to the end of another year feeling like a failure, I have come to the end of the year feeling such wonder, gratitude and joy!   Joy was the word I chose last year.  At first, it took a bit of imagination and creativity to find joy-filled moments, but before long, my daily list was endless!  Yes, and that includes the difficult days.  Let me explain! Take for...

Recently, I greeted an acquaintance with, "Happy Holidays!"  What I received in return was the most unexpected reply, "Come on, Linda, you mean Merry Christmas, don't you?" Since I knew that this particular person was Christian, it might have seemed more appropriate to wish a Merry Christmas as I left, but we were in a public venue with people who I knew did not celebrate the Christian holy day of Christmas, let alone the secular version.  So... the greeting of Happy Holidays as I was leaving seemed very appropriate. As you can see from the picture above, there are many Holy/holi days in the winter months.  The ones pictured include six that are not Christian. Since I work, live and communicate in a multicultural, multi-faith traditioned society, I believe wishing others a happy holiday is A. kind, B. thoughtful and C. more than appropriate. I also think about that adage that many use, "What would Jesus do?"  Well, first of all, Jesus wouldn...