A Man Counting His Blessings

I wrote the following on the afternoon of Christmas Day as kind of a New Year's Resolution for myself:

There are many annoyances in life ... if we wish to focus on them.  We could justify all these annoyances easily, for it's been a tough year for so many of us.  It's better to count our legion of blessings despite this.

When one American Indian medicine man was asked how he walked out onto the battlefield and nothing happened to him, his reply was that he "created no place of death within himself."  It takes a lot of focus and a lot of energy (and probably being a shaman) to create no place of death within ourselves, but it is an awfully nice idea, don't you think?  It should work for peace, too.

Feed those inner selves, make them strong.  Whatever your spiritual tradition, whatever brings you succor and balance, wherever you find meaning and peace, assertively use it.  Support the next guy doing the same, regardless of what his source of beliefs and strength.  Stock up on forgiveness and compassion and use it like the world depended upon it!  The world will thank you generously and you'll have a very ...

Happy New Year!

Now I have to get off my soapbox and see if I can pull any of it off myself, LOL.  These New Year's resolutions always stick and last, of course.