ON LOAN

So many things to consider

when I sit down to eat my dinner...

 

I live in a house I call my own

even though it belongs to the bank

and I just live here on loan.  

 

The table at which I sit,

first came to the family

when my Grandfather purchased it.

 

As a boy, I ate here and studied,

celebrated birthdays with my buddies.

 

Now it sits in the bank’s dining room.

I still eat my meals here,

but the table will be someone else’s

when I take to my tomb.

 

These children too,

I say they are mine

but soon enough they will be on their own,

just a matter of time.

 

I could become fearful while thinking these thoughts,

wondering if life has meaning or whether it ought

to be enough to be grateful

and feel like a winner

because I’ve been given

children

and table

and house

and dinner.  

BACK TO BUSINESS

“Back to business” the boss said,

after a coffee

break.

“There are shareholders

and executives fretting

that their investments are at

stake.”

 

Most have forgotten,

in the rush to get things

done,

return on investment is only

one

of the tools to measure

whether you’ve

won.

 

More helpful to remember,

business is made for the people,

not people for the

bus-i-ness.

HOLDING TOGETHER

Let it go.

All you think is holding you together.

 

The way you tense your

shoulders

and

neck.

The force required to hold in your stomach.

 

What people think.

Who “owes” you.

Who wronged you.

 

How you let yourself down.

What you “should” do.

 

Let it go.

Just for one breath.

Or two.

 

Now what will you do?

 

(What we think holds up together

is often what is tearing us apart.)

SO BEGINS THE FIRST QUARTER

And so begins the first quarter,

another year has come and gone.

Some dreams came true.

Some dreams said, “So long.”

 

And even though it is simply

the turning of a calendar’s page,

a New Year,

a first quarter,

feels like looking into a new age.

 

There is excitement, urgency, expectation.

The engines revving, waiting to take on the first turn.

 

But just before rushing headlong into the days ahead,

take time to remember what you have learned.

 

A New Year,

a first quarter

begins with

this minute,

this hour,

and what you do

Every. Single. Day.  

4 QUESTIONS AND 1 LETTER

Now the letter:

 

Write a letter to yourself recounting

how 2018 went

(be specific,

detail what happened each

month,

quarter, etc.

how you stayed focused,

how you overcame the challenges of the year,

write yourself anything else you deem helpful,

then thank yourself for another year.)

 

At the end of the letter, include the 4 questions

to do this process all over again.

 

Schedule the letter to be sent to be received/opened by you on December 27th.

 

Happy New Year.  

May you experience more joy and wonder than you can even imagine.