"2015 and then some..."

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’m happy to see the year 2014 end. I’m not one to wish away time but the fact remains that out of the 365 days in each year, I would bet most of us spend most of those days wishing for a new year to come.   By December 31^st most of us have had it with being inundated with our obligations, our commitments and all that entails. We are all just too busy and tired from the race and how dangerous and sad that is. The question I have is why do we celebrate the onset of a new year when we could be celebrating each new day?  Have we become so accustomed to avoiding our own feelings that we don’t make time to embrace them? We celebrate willingly the new year ahead but I’m beginning to understand that each new day that I am given, is far more significant.

Life is difficult.  Life is challenging and often painful.  We want to walk away when things get too over-whelming.  We can turn our backs on the ones we love when we’re angry.  On this “new day,” why not run towards those we love rather than avoid what needs to be said or done?  On this “new day,” why not love more, and strive for understanding rather than being right? 

With every new day, find truth, speak truth and don’t be afraid to show your good intentions and demand the same from those in your personal sphere.  Each day we are given, we have the opportunity to either lift someone’s spirit or crush it.  Each day we are given, we can extend ourselves to those we love and put our energies into our well-being and theirs; or we can build more walls or barriers and never have the closeness or the love we deserve.  The choice becomes ours and ours alone.

As 2015 comes, turn the corner on your routines.  Calculate each and every minute and use them with as much meaning as possible. Embrace change and the challenges that come with those changes.  Sometimes tears may be involved and that’s quite all right. Cleanse the pain and the frustration and look at how you spend your day, each day.  It’s not the years, it’s the days that we lose track of so easily.  Listen more to what your body and your mind are telling you.  They never lie.  

Let 2015 be a year of self-reflection, and self-actualization.  Let it be a year of living your truth and being truthful to others.  Slow down long enough to appreciate the defeats as well as the successes.  Realize that what you say and what you do, or even what you don’t do, will impact someone in your path.

 “Happy New DAY everyone!” This is all we are guaranteed.  If I could, I would figure out how to get the crystal ball in Times Square to gently descend each morning as we wake, reminding us that we have one day.  Let’s not forget how fortunate we are to experience it...”No matter what.”

"Yes Amma Lee, there is a Santa Claus"

Dear Amma Lee:

Life hands us many things that we don’t understand.  It's easy for us to lose our faith and our hope.   When I was your age, the one belief, above any other, that made sense, was my belief in Santa Claus.  No matter what anyone tells you, there certainly is a Santa Claus.   Some people lose sight of him because they are angry at what they have lost.  Some lose their faith probably because they forgot they had the magic to believe.  Bad things happen whether we are five or fifty but the one truth we can hold on to is Christmas and Santa Claus live in each of us and it’s up to us whether we believe the magic and make our world better than where we found it.  Some will tell you that there is no magic and that there is no Santa Claus.  They are wrong.

I know they are wrong when I hear laughter...any laughter. Laughter is indeed magic.  Your mom believes in the magic of Christmas each time she hears you giggle or when you share a secret that only she can know as she snuggles you to bed each night.  I know Santa exists, when someone smiles at me.  Of course, Santa Claus really likes it when you smile back.  By the way, should you find yourself in a situation where no one is smiling or laughing, hug them.  Santa really likes that too.   

I know Santa exists each time I sit down with my family and we share our tales and our woes and somehow, by the magic in each of us, we are grateful for being together.  I feel him each and every time I hear music and singing.  Music is his most gracious gift to us.  Dancing is the other gift.  To dance means true joy.  Santa knows this to be true and so dear Amma Lee, sing, and dance and surround yourself with those who will join you.  You will never be alone.

The difficulties of being human seem so large.  There are those who will want to tell you that there is no such thing as Santa but how can that be when you dear girl, exist? He sees your love, your kindness and when you are sad, he sees how incredibly strong you are and will be as each Christmas comes and goes.  Santa Claus exists every time we see the sun, the rain, the snow.  With every season, with every change in our lives, we can hold on to our faith that is Christmas.  For those who don’t or who tell you otherwise, understand that they simply need to believe again.  Let them know, that they can always find their magic again if they allow themselves to love.

So  dear Amma Lee, any time someone tells you not to believe, look up in the sky and notice each twinkling star, and gaze at the wonder of the heavens for it’s there that all those who believed before us share their love and their light each Christmas.  Santa knows how much you are loved and how smart you are. He exists Amma Lee, in the light of your eyes and the love in your heart.