New...

  Ahhh Spring. Even the word brings a smile. We can shake off the boots and heavy coats and feel the warmth of the sun instead. Such bliss... until winter does its thing and hammers us at least one more time. But we know now that spring hasn't left us and will return. This is akin to the feeling we experience when we come through a desert time. Question - do we take the time to understand the what's, why's, and how's of going into the desert, the time there, and emerging from it? Remember, those who don't (won't?) learn are doomed to repeat.

  Whenever one thinks about spring, the thought of new life beginning has to be part of the definition. I have always thought it fascinating that we have various points in the year that seem to give us the opportunity to ... begin anew? throw out the old and bring in the new? restart? You can phrase this in many ways but it always comes down to a 'clean sheet' approach to what's happening in your life and what you can do with and about the current and the desired. 

  The 'new' beginnings start at the first day of each new year. Then spring heralds another new start. Also accompanied with 'spring cleaning' in order to eliminate the real and figurative cobwebs. When fall comes, the falling leaves give us the opportunity to divest ourselves of those 'things' that are no longer relevant for our lives and either give them away and/or have a garage sale to eliminate those unnecessary items. (This also includes dropping the attitudes that stop our progress, and replacing them with proactive attitudes and behaviors.)

  So now what? Do we take advantage of the opportunity for our new start? Or do we simply fill it up with new things that will inevitably be cast into the pile to deal with later? How many of us use the space and time to make some significant decisions about our lives and how we live them? Will we go that sometimes difficult path to something that is new? 'New' implies fresh start, a beginning of new rather than only a reshuffle of what was just different in form. Replacement of the old in new guises is not the best use of 'new'. New is a gift that only the brave dare to embrace.