Winter is here in Ohio though it isn’t officially displayed on our calendar until December 21. Do you know that winter can be a great time for personal reflection?  I like this time of year not only because of Christmas but  because, the present  year is winding down on the calendar. I reflect on my past year’s progress.  Most of those reflections are good ones. Some are fantastic.  Some of those reflections not nearly as good as I had hoped for and some of those reflections I see,  I just don’t want to repeat again,  for one,  or many reasons.

For me, the best part of this time of year, Winter,  is that as this year ends,  we have a brand new year ahead, if we are so lucky and blessed to participate in it. This past year, I had a time of deep reflection when I had a pancreatic cancer  scare. After three weeks of waiting to repeat the CT scan to know if it was indeed cancer, or side effects from the  medicine I was prescribed the month prior, I had twenty-one days of waiting.  During this period,  I did a whole lot of reflecting on my life past and present. I was  relieved when they said the test results showed  I did not have cancer. Three weeks is a long time when waiting for news like this.  Whew!  So here’s the thing: During this reflective time,  once more,  I connected  with this prescription for daily living that I wish to  share with you. This is not a new prescription, these are not new lessons, they are lessons repeated again and again,  sometimes lost or forgotten, and then rediscovered  again.

Wishing you a very special , reflective kind of Holiday!

• Don’t take life so seriously, you never know when it will be over. 
• Love is the key to everything, do it for love’s sake.
•  Don’t be so hard on yourself. 
• Simplify,discard things that are not harmonious to your spirit.
• We all are on a journey we have never traveled before.  Be forgiving to yourself and your fellow man, especially your family. 

I look forward to Christmas, a second chance for mankind and a reminder to give and forgive. The promise of the  new year ahead is a mental image for me to “erase the chalk board” and start afresh with much thanksgiving that I have the gift of  starting a new  Chapter in my Book of Life in the new year ahead.

Take Joy!
Sherry