Another Year and Growing Older

It's a New Year.  And we'll all be a year older on one of the days in this New Year.  Rather than focus upon resolutions, which are often simply re-solutions to the same problems (and with the same results), perhaps it would make sense to take a moment to reflect upon what it means to be a year older.  The poem below may help trigger a reflection.

Growing Older

by

Maya Angelou

When I was in my younger days, I weighed a few

Pounds less, I needn't hold my tummy in to wear a belted dress.

But now that I am older, I've set my body free;

There's the comfort of elastic...Where once my waist would be.

Inventor of those high-heeled shoes...My feet have not forgiven;

I have to wear a nine now.  But used to wear a seven.

And how about those pantyhose -

They're sized by weight, you see.  So how come

When I put them on

The crotch is at my knee?

I need to wear these glasses...As the print's been getting smaller;

And it wasn't very long ago I know that I was taller.

Though my hair has turned gray and my skin no longer fits,

On the inside, I'm the same old me,

It's the outside's changed a bit.

But, on a positive note...

I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today,

Life does go on, and it will be a better tomorrow.

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person

by the way s/he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

I've learned that regardless of your relationship with

Your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your "life".

I've learned that life sometimes give you a second chance.

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt

on both hands.  You need to be able to throw something back.

I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decisions.

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.

I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone.

People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Be open to learning in this New Year.  And be open to seeing problems in new ways.  You may then arrive at new solutions, with no longer the need for re-solutions.