Sunsetting Another Year

Do you prefer Beginnings or Endings: the excitement of starting anew or the completion and finality when a project or a book draws to a conclusion?  Both have their ardent followers!

Think of the person who is very creative and begins several projects but never finishes... or... the person who is dependable and ends tasks on time and under budget.

Do you see the beauty in endings?
(Photo:  Sunset over Sea of Cortez - Larry Gardepie)

As we enter the last few days of this calendar year, we don't have to choose between the two!  Whether we like it or not, the rhythm of time draws us to end one year and almost seamlessly we enter another.  Similarly, we watch the sun set over the horizon at the end of one day and wait in anticipation for it to rise again the next day.

The difference?  Depending on where we are standing, we must shift our attention from one horizon to another.

Time continues.  We are called to follow.  We are invited to change our stance to release one and accept the other.

How do you experience the rhythm around you?
(Photo: French Polynesian Sunset - Larry Gardepie)

We do have choices in the rhythm of our days and years alive.  We can choose:

• How we approach the rising and falling of our hopes and dreams.
• Whether we engage with young and old who share their experiences and insights.
• If we look with curiosity on the unknowns of tomorrow or next year.

And, we can make a choice in our thoughts and attitudes towards those we disagree:  we can search for ways to release and accept.

What freedoms light your way forward?
(Photo: Statue of Liberty at Sunset - Larry Gardepie)

The freedom we have in Endings and Beginnings is our ability to Redo... Rethink... Reengage when we don't understand.  That is, we can:

• Redo: by asking someone we hurt if we can reword what we said earlier.
• Rethink:  by listening to and questioning the arguments that were put forward by us and others.
• Reengage: by agreeing to stay in relationship and work towards an understanding that we are not the same... and that is okay!

May we use these next few days to reflect on our past year.  May we accept responsibility for any pain we may have caused.  May we look at the beauty of the rhythms of Life:  our ability to Redo, Rethink, and Reengage.

Happy Year Ending!

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

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