Welcome to 2024! I hope that you are all comfy and using the cold days to reflect on where you want to be heading this year in your work, play and self-discovery.  

You know that phrase, "I changed my mind"? Often it has a negative connotation as when promises aren't kept on a personal or larger political/social scale. But in my on-going reading about neuro-science, this phrase is a concrete possibility. We actually can change our brains by changing how we think in positive ways. When we choose thoughts and activities that foster positivity, gratitude and compassion, we are training our brain in new skills to lead a happier, more creative life. 

When my brother had a stroke at the age of forty-two, I watched as occupational therapists sent electrical impulses from different parts of his body to the unaffected parts of the brain, which over time, assigned new tasks normally handled by the areas that were now unable to program them, to the other hemisphere. Alan worked (and continues to work) diligently to regain his skills in speech and walking using the half of his brain (and body) that can learn to do the work.  

Whatever it is that we spend time practicing, we will develop pathways in the brain which help us become better at it. Like an athlete or dancer who repeats a motion over and over until they get it right, we can gain skills we may have otherwise thought impossible. I actually thought of myself as not being able to draw very well. I was always frustrated at how long it took me to come up with a sketch of something I was looking at or of a photograph. It's gotten a lot easier since I started a daily drawing routine. This year, I am creating daily gratitude drawings instead of writing down the things I am thankful for. So far, it has been really fun! AND my subject matter varies so that I am not always sketching similar things every day. If what I feel grateful about is an abstract thing, I come up with an item to symbolize the idea.

Along with that practice, I have selected the word "CLARITY" to be my focus for 2024. Last year I used the word "commit" but actually had to look up what I had selected, as I did not remember. Though I accomplished a lot and even hit a number of milestones in 2023, I did not attain the concrete habits I had hoped to "commit" to as on-going routines.

"Clarity", for me, has to do with my state of mind and knowing that my perception, in the moment, is not clouded by emotions or past experiences which often muddy the lens of what is really happening. It contains a mindfulness that can discern whether what I am doing is beneficial and has purpose. This could include doing absolutely nothing so long as I am mindful that I am making a choice to do nothing. In fact, studies are showing that giving ourselves complete down time (whether in meditation or a calming walk in the woods) is extremely beneficial for our well-being and creativity. So why not do both?