Today when I awoke, I reached to my bedside- to the reams of books lying by my bedside. And I found words of wisdom that can power all of us into this new year!!!

Yes, we can fly!

First, true confessions from a woman who has highlighters and pens of multiple colors in her nightstand so as to highlight books filled with spiritual and spirited messages as well as journals on brain science. Anything about sports, the Harvard Business Review and other biz publications and catalogues of high fashion totally unrelated to my lifestyle but still containing photos of fashion that I see as works-of-art and sculptures (also-known-as shoes) in their own way.

As I reached down into this disorganized pile of books and publications strewn bedside, I decided to exercise one of my goals for this year- self-acceptance. I recalled that I have always had reams of books by my bedside since I was a little girl, from a day when diving into reading provided me with comfort and solace and friendship. And I committed that I am going to relish the bedside books- forget the obsessive placing them into piles or even taking them back to the walls of bookshelves in other rooms. This year I will enjoy those books by my bedside as houses of wisdom, as the friends that they are, offering companionship and solace during times when other people are not available for conversation or when others seem incapable of dispensing compassion to the level that I would like. And when the moment feels right, I will have a changing of the guard so to speak, I will consider which books to place back in their spots on the shelves lining my family room and study and I will consider which friends I want to see each night when I climb in over them into the comfort of my bed.

I picked up an old book of mine that I had chosen for bedside stature when my Dad was dying in July but that, for whatever reason, I had been unable to bring myself to read until this first day of 2008, the first year without my Dad. The book was Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach* (the same wise man who wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull that used to grace my bedside when I was a bit younger...).

There were so many passages that struck me. I had to restrain myself from highlighting the whole book (remember this is a woman who highlights Vogue, HBR, neuroscience research journals, and …). But I did not hold back from reading the entire book in one sitting and I would recommend the same to any of you- and watching the Buffalo Sabres game today on real ice in the out-of-doors…

Consider this passage from Illusions (page 49):

"Your friends
will know you better
in the first minute you meet
than
your acquaintances
will know you in
a thousand years."

I thought back to people with whom I had felt an instant connection, a soulful connection- and how in my younger days I had dismissed that as ordinary, as something that could be created with anyone and everyone. This year I will relish every meeting with a friend- old and new- and will make the time to strengthen those connections and to spend more of my life’s time with those people.

And I will choose to spend less time with acquaintances, less time trying to make those connections into something more- and simply accept the ‘as is’ that is life and people.

What about you?

I also loved the passage below (from page 51) - even though I would reframe the 'don't' suggestion to a ‘do’...:

"You are led
through your lifetime
by the inner learning creature,
the playful spiritual being
that is your real self.

Don't turn away
from possible futures
before you're certain you don't have
anything to learn from them.

You're always free
to change your mind and
choose a different future, or
a different
past."

As I read and reread that passage, I savored the age and stage of eons- knowing what we do, realizing that we are the keepers of our physical self that jets us through the journey, taking control of our choices. Again, I considered instances from days gone by when I had turned “away from possible futures” well before I had any idea- inkling or certainty- that I could learn. I promised myself to keep an open mind and heart to learning – from books but even moreso from people and experiences – to approach life each moment with the energy and vitality of “the inner learning creature, the playful spiritual being that is your real self”- that is my real self and your real self too.

How about you – what commitments are you ready to make to bringing this learning, playful and spiritual self to the challenges and glories of each day?

Finally, though there are more, I especially like this one (page 65). It feels a good fit as I consider this year with my Dad's passing to a new life and the new life that I want to imagine and create for myself, satisfied that I have given my 4 daughters, now 17 to 24, experiences that have led them to be lovers of life and learning:

"The bond
that links your true family
is not one of blood, but
of respect and joy
in each other's life.

Rarely do members
of one family grow up
under the same roof."

WOW- I relived experiences with those with whom I had felt a familial bond – including blood relationships with whom I have felt such intense life-fueling connection.

In this eons stage, I feel free to create my own network of brothers and sisters, of those individuals and groups with whom I can feel a “bond...of respect and joy in each other’s life.” – and in simply living.

Here is to a year of living dangerously-oops that was a movie- to a year, yes! - of living dangerously if that means taking risks and living the way you want- on purpose and with passion and conviction that you are a miracle and the life that you create is within your reach. You- we – are limited most by our own beliefs and those same beliefs hold the power to set us free to dream and to achieve.

As I head out to run on my treadmill in my self-fashioned and very primitive garage gym (as opposed to a garage band), set to tune into a real hockey game- as in Buffalo and Pittsburgh playing on real outdoor ice in real snow, I rejoice in another year of making snow angels and growing my family – this time without the pain of natural childbirth…

Happy New Year!!!

Looking forward and moving ahead,
Pam Brill

*Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach – Delacorte Press/Eleanor Friede – 13th printing 1978 – ISBN: 0-440-04318-2