We can listen, now and again, and believe the answers and the reasons (or the truths) are right there, caught up in the commotion of the daily dread or tangled with the rancid emotions of what was said.
Between the multiple-choice answers laid out, the excuses we make up, and a whitewashed history reformatted by ever-changing algorithms, we struggle with undisputed ignorance, illusions of someday, and the pumpkin-spiced-reality of all that is wrong with advertising.
We try to take precautions because we have all become accustomed to impositions, disappointment, continual infringements on our privacy, and the errors of the day.
The expansive nature of circumstances beyond our control have whittled down our objections to the lucid facts of fake news, arbitrary transgressions of those who should know better, and the next new thing.
The ugly truth is that we follow certain hypocrisies and condone behavior that insults our fellow beings, and ultimately ourselves.
Sixteen times per minute, twenty-two thousand breaths in a day. No time like the present. There are no other excuses, but there are always other ways. Breathe. Choose today to speak up when you can, push out the latent sorrow, guilt, and anguish only you can understand. Inhale. There is no life, no oxygen, like this day. Despite our selected perceptions, there is not a single breath to waste.
As we prepare to greet another year, looking ahead with both enthusiasm and uncertainty, it is an opportune time to reflect on what got us where we are.
Do not do so with regret.
What has happened has passed; the apprehension and anxieties that have dogged us in the past are better left unsaid. There is so much value in starting over.
In the process of rediscovering (even reinventing) who you are, find clarity in both your actions and intent. Disappointments and delusions will certainly have a say (they often do) but continue stepping forward anyway.
2025 is a fresh start.
May this coming year give you even more to think about. Enjoy each day.
