I needed to remind myself of this today.  Wow!  What a roller coaster week it has been.  Looking back, I handled some things well, some things okay and then some things… well let’s just say it’s over now and I am not going to look back or try and fix what is broken.

In my head I find myself saying things like, “On Monday I am going to start eating right.  No more ice cream.”  Or, “Okay, after I get through this (event) I am hitting the gym on Tuesday and Thursday and will go to the yoga studio on the other days and I will not schedule anything over those times.” How about, “I am going to (do this good thing) after I (achieve this other thing that may never happen because you do not have control of it).” I feel like I am in constant negotiations with myself!  It’s insane.  Do you do that?

One of my favorite times of the day and places to be is on the beach.  If you have never walked along the ocean at sunrise please put it on your bucket list immediately!  There is something so pure about the beach untouched in the early morning.  The sand is smooth, untouched by human feet.  The curves of the dunes and the patterns in the dry sand created by the wind are new every day.  The smoothness of the wet sand and shells peppering the ocean line are gifts from the tide.  If you stand still and close your eyes your body starts to move and breathe in rhythm to the waves ebbing and flowing.  Above the sounds of the water, birds can be heard and then there is the moment when the sun comes up along the horizon.  The light in the sky begins to change and the colors explode.  Really, you can’t help but smile just a little and you feel good!  It seems to me to be one of nature’s moments of gratitude and I have been given the gift of sharing it with nature.

So here is the cold hard truth.  Today we will do some really great things.  They may be for ourselves or for others or both.  We will do some things that we really don’t want to do but let’s try and do them with a generous spirit.  Today we will avoid things that need our attention and we will do things that may not have been our best choice.  I want to pray that those things we do that are not our best will be fewer than they were yesterday and more than they will be tomorrow.

Here’s to today!  A new day.  A fresh start.