Catch Jim’s youtube podcast: https://youtu.be/a1Rk8kKfaFY
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Life, actually…
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HOW TO RE-REVIEW AND RE-RENEW YOUR WORLD
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“Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore…”
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The lyrics of an old Yuletide carol fade from memory, quickly replaced by a New Year that is happening with or without my permission.
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Here it is, ready or not.
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So, what will this newborn era bring to me? What will I bring to it?
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Is it in control of me, or am I the baton-wielding conductor?
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How can the world as it is, co-exist with the world it could be?
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Enough with the soul-searching questions, away with the philosophizing. It’s time to get on with life.
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Happy New Year!
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Sometimes, stopping to smell the roses can be thorny. But sometimes, it’s a good way to re-start, re-boot, refresh, renew.
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You might even consider getting up close and allowing the roses to enjoy you.
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Let me toss a thought or two into the atmosphere. Here are some notions about gaining control of your world on your own terms:
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Sit still in a park or restaurant or window and carefully observe the first village elder who passes by. Memorize every graceful move, scrutinize all limited motions, note the assuredness, the insecurity, the constant overlap of mind and matter, the recollections that must be occurring.
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Sit still and carefully consider the fact that you are gazing through a portal to a future time. You are observing yourself as you might be some future day.
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Then, consider what suggestions you the future Elder might offer to this present-moment version of You.
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If nothing occurs, consider what you would like to say to that distant-future You.
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Be kind.
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Carefully observe the reactions of both selves.
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Close your eyes for 90 seconds and bring your selves together in peace, understanding and harmony.
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Snap!
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Some other harmless but notable things to do:
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At a public event, pretend you are about-facing in order to view the audience behind you, ignoring what’s up front.
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The audience is the real show. Everything else is artifice.
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Carry snapshots of your parents and grandparents and brag about them every chance you get.
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Have someone read you a bedtime story.
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With eyes closed, clutch a very old book to your chest for an hour and imagine what is happening inside that volume. Then, open it up and view the pop-up world within.
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If all this unsolicited advice is too strange for you, make your own list of ways to view this new year. You are a passenger, but now and then you can occupy the driver’s seat.
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Turn the world upside-down for a day and tell me what that was like
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© Jim Reed 2023 A.D.
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