A Christmas Thought or Two

December 2022 – at long last this year is coming to a close.  Slowly, inexorably, painfully, we are now seeing the end in our sights.  It’s been a doozy!  I won’t list all the things that have happened, not happened; infected us, not infected us; gone up, gone down; lasted too long, lasted not long enough; appeared, disappeared; made us happy, made us sad.  All of that is almost behind us.  And yet.  I will miss 2022 in some ways.  Not for the bad things – and there were plenty of them – but for the interesting things.  The things that, when we reflect on them have made us stronger, more adaptable, more prepared to face 2023 maybe.
 
I am not known as a great lover of poetry.  Yet I read a poem this morning that moved me.  That made me think.  That made me reflect.  That made me learn.  In the spirit of Christmas, I share it with you – I haven’t been able to find its author so can’t credit anyone other than anon:
 
The Whispering Tree
 
I sit against the bark of an ancient tree
Feeling its warmth from the setting sun
Seeping a calm that yearns to take hold
Fingers like vines searching my soul
 
Every year it grows another ring
Another reflection of time that’s been
Etching its memory and imprint bold
What story, it whispers, do your rings hold?
 
What story grows within you now
What bark, what sap, what inner core
What roots seek wisdom in depths unknown
What have you learned, become, been shown
 
Unsettled I ask the tree for grace
For time to sit and reflect in peace
To add my story to the rings of the tree
As its whisperings add to the story of me
 
All of us spend a lot of time and energy in support of others – be they family, employees, friends or even strangers.  And that’s as it should be.  But have we spent enough time for ourselves – our own growth, development and wellbeing?  Take the time now, whatever you were doing before you read this blog, to sit and reflect in peace, to add to your story, to add to the rings in your tree.  What story grows within you in 2022?  What have you learnt?  What have you become?  What have you been shown, what have you showed.  How have you grown and flourished?  What have you run from, not ready yet to see?  As an old sage once said to me, “our insights might be fleeting yet worth so much!”
 
It’s unlike me to be so serious at this time of the year!  But it’s been one of those years, hasn’t it?  Let’s make sure we sign 2022 off properly, so we can enter 2023 with energy, precision and focus.  And we can best do that by following the poem’s message, and then opening the cheer – be it bubbles, red, white, or clear; be it family, friends, away or here.
 
Have a great Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
 
From us all at the Think Differently Group.