Dear Friend, Welcome to 2022!
Such a fun new world to wake up in. It feels very similar to the previous world of 2021, yet entirely fresh. Same, same but different. Hope has a powerful way of altering reality.
The last days of 2021 were extraordinary. I camped out Christmas night and woke up to the most phenomenal sunrise. I’m going to share with you several pictures, because I just can’t get over how astonishing the sky transformed around me in a matter of 45 minutes. No filters were necessary.
I also surprised my mom Christmas morning with a trip out here to spend the remaining days of 2021 with me and my kids. We (they) baked Christmas goodies, like Buckeyes and Oreo balls. Sugar has been my primary sustenance this past week.
I think the spectacular sunrise was so impacting for me because it was unexpected. I have camped in that exact same spot several times and watched the sun rise. Never before did the sky look so majestic or feel so glorious. I tend to have my holy moments around the campfire – which I did the previous night. But that morning, I just stood there in awe of the continued altering celestial sphere. I couldn’t move.
I actually tried to go back to my campsite but when I started walking towards the trail, the colors shifted and the clouds glided in a way that made a whole new scene – in a matter of seconds. It stopped me in my tracks. I guess it wasn’t only the unexpected that was impacting, but the magnitude of beauty that overwhelmed me.
Unexpected Beauty Stuns the Senses!
I couldn’t have dreamed of a more astounding affirmation for my aspirations. It captured the essence of my purpose. In my business it’s our mission: Shaping Environments Where Everyone Gets to Contribute Their Best Daily. In my personal life, it’s the same. Every environment I enter, I intend to bring joy, surprise, challenge and wonder that fashions an open and welcoming platform for others to express their best.
In that small slice of heaven above me, the ethereal space remained exact, but what danced inside it kept re-sculpting. Isn’t that the opportunity presented to us daily? We live in the same space. We work in the same space. We shop in the same space. We play in the same space. We church in the same space. We socialize in the same space. Yet what transpires in those spaces can be transformational.
That’s not just true of physical spaces. The potential within every relationship we are in can expand in dynamic life-altering ways. Since the gun has been fired and the 2022 race has started, consciously bringing intentionality for healthy growth in our most important relationships is in play. How will we invest in those relations? How would we like them to look? What are we willing to do to reshape them? Who needs to stay, who needs to go?
Of course our most constant place is our mind space. Waking up daily with repetitive thoughts, beliefs and perspectives prescribes the lens through which we see the world. Like the firmament it is vastly unending with strong atmospheric pressure. How we shape that environment revolutionizes every other setting!
How can we create…
Beautiful
Unexpected
New Thoughts?
Ironically external stimuli generates internal imaginings. Books, conversations, exercise, art and obviously nature.
Instigating Ideas…
1. Go watch the sunrise.
2. Clearly define your mission.
3. Enjoy the thickness of Hope the new year brings.
4. Consider what your spaces need from you.
Allocating time to explore these spaces is the challenge. I almost didn’t go camping because it can be a bit of a hassle. I’m grateful I did. Mgv, I didn’t have any of these thoughts when I woke up this morning. Six years ago I committed to writing on Saturday mornings. Since then every week I’ve learned something, I didn’t know I learned – until I sat down to write.
Who knew we could create a time-space to unveil revelation? I know this sounds crazy, but I’ll wake up tomorrow morning, read this letter and think “oh man, that’s good.” Or “that doesn’t make sense?”. As I struggle to extract meaning while finding words to articulate it, I don’t always grasp what’s found it’s way into this letter.
I sincerely hope your physical, relational and mind spaces are as stunning as that sunrise… and you see it.