Simple Quiet

Life is always quite busy over the holiday season; places to go, people to see.  Everything went well this year and every single moment was enjoyed but a part of me longed for it to be followed be something else entirely.  A little bit of simple quiet.  A few days filled with calm and rest.  

After the very busy and rather loud New Years Eve in which our home was packed with family and friends, running children, noise makers and an awful lot of festive cheer I took the rest of the week easy.  

It was a rather slow work week, my kids were home and the last of the holiday celebrations were coming to a close so I took the opportunity to let schedules and commitments (even self-commitments) fly out the window and simply go with the flow.  To be calm and allow those moments of simple quiet I was craving to find me.   

I took down the many Christmas decorations, cleaned house, went ice-skating, had friends over for a pizza night, played board games and video games as a family, played in the snow and watched movies all curled up together. They were things that while perhaps not entirely quiet are rather comforting and often contain hidden quiet moments. 

Even while cleaning up I find those moments of quiet comfort.  Putting away decorations I would recall where and when a certain item was picked up. A few moments spent re-reading the cards we received over the season, even seeing the return of my regular simplistic and calm décor over the riot of colour found during the holidays was a moment to embrace.

Skating with family or friends is always a favorite activity of mine in which to find those quiet moments.  Those moments found in those long gliding stretches when there is nothing but nature, ice, your skate blades and the whisper of the wind to fill your mind. 

A simple lull in conversation while having a pizza night with friends in which no one feels the need to fill it is a comfortable and wonderful quiet moment.  The moments found while treasuring the feel of my girls leant up against either side of me while bundled up together to watch a movie.  A moment spent studying the cards or game pieces laid out before me.   A moment to catch my breath while playing in the snow with my head back and soft drifting snowflakes falling.

These are just a short list of all those quiet moments that have found me in the last week.  After a month or rush and celebration it was a wonderful way to ring in the New Year. With just a bit of love calm and quiet.  I suppose this is my new year’s resolution, to continue allowing those quiet moments find me wherever they may.

A New Year

I’m not a resolution kind of person, never once have I made a New Year’s resolution and I don’t feel inclined to start now.  I can’t quite subscribe to the notion that a new year requires a new me; the same one from 2011 will do just fine in 2012 thank you very much.

When New Years rolls around each year I make the choice to look back on my year and focus on the fun I’ve had, the things I’ve enjoyed and what I want to keep on doing.  I can look back on the changes I’ve made (this blog for example) that have in some way big or small made me feel better about who I am.

I think it’s a much better way to start a new year rather than looking back and berating myself on the things I should change or the negatives.  Following that train of thought it’s no wonder most resolutions fail as most of them are borne out of a negative thought and so that is where the focus lies with the negative.

Who wants to, or for that matter who can keep themselves focused on a negative? Sure there are changes I should make to better myself but do I need an arbitrary day to change them? No, tomorrow is just another day as is the day after that.  Whichever day I start to make those changes on doesn’t matter.

I try to be happy and healthy and slowly change the things I don’t like in my life, you know all that good stuff many people resolve to do each year but instead of trying to do it all at once I do it every day in little ways. 

Those little ways have a tendency to add up over the course of a year and so when I reach the end of my year I’m able to look back and focus on the positive because I know I will continue to try to improve myself every day and not just tomorrow or for the first few weeks or months but all year long.  

So I wish everyone a happy new year and would like to remind you all to take a moment at some point this New Years Eve and think on what you have accomplished this year not just on what you haven’t.