HOPE FOR 2022

Optimism is the belief that things are going to get better. Hope is the belief that we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope is an active one. It takes no courage only words to be an optimist, but it takes courage and action to hope.        –Rabbi Jonathan Sachs

This is the last week of 2021 and I’ve been reflecting about what I want to keep and carry into 2022.  This isn’t a list of resolutions, but rather reflections on what I’ve been missing or have found valuable as I’ve lived through the last 365 days.  So here are some of my thoughts of what I hope to keep doing or being in the coming year. 

HUGS

I realized how much I loved hugging people hello and goodbye when Covid made it impossible.  It took awareness and energy to not reach out to hug.  Now, when I see someone I know, I step back instead of forward and make do with a  ‘Hi’ or a hands in prayer position bow.  I miss the connection of hugs with friends and family.  

In 2022 I hope to get to feeling safe enough to hug spontaneously.

NOTES

I had pledged at the beginning of 2021 to write short notes of thank you every couple of days to persons — those I know well, those who are acquaintances, those I’ve lost touch with from my past. I bought small notecards so as to keep what I write brief and had stamps and address labels. I wanted to give to others the joy I feel when I receive notes in the mail. I have saved a whole file drawer of note cards or letters written over the past 45 years of my career by former clients, family, friends, and people I’ve touched somehow expressing gratitude for something I’ve done. I call it my Rainy Day file and it has been a lifesaver at times when I’ve struggled with depression or life changes. I failed miserably in this small practice and sent only a couple dozen notes.

In 2022 I hope to write at least one note per week (realistic number) of gratitude and hope to someone I haven’t written to lately.  

MEANINGFUL QUOTATIONS

Email programs used to allow you to enter several different signature templates (name/address/quote) to appear at the end of your email and then would randomly select one of them each time you sent an email.  I loved that feature because it meant I could enter 10 or more unique quotations and a different one would appear at the end of my email each time.  It was eerie how frequently the quotation that randomly showed up would “match” the content or tone of my email.  Recipients would comment on that as well.  Sadly, that feature hasn’t been part of email programs (at least any that I have used) since the 2000’s. Now, I rarely change the quote on my email — perhaps once a year.

In 2022 I hope to change my quote once a month on my email and perhaps include a copy of a quote in each note card I write and mail.

ELFIN QUOTATION MAGIC

I am a quote collector and love adding to my list of quotes every time I discover another meaningful one (newly discovered Jonathan Sachs quotation at top of blogpost). Usually they just sit in my computer file (Writing > Xmas letters > quotes). I have sometimes sent 3 or 4 quotes printed on business card stock with each Christmas card or letter. But mostly they just stayed in the file without me even reading them. But I want to change that and give them away in the manner I saw “Elfin Magic” giving away Christmas joy with sparkling Christmas balls randomly in trees along the walking path in a park.

In 2022 I hope to collect quotes about hope and connection and action. I will print a variety of them on business cards, tie with ribbon in bunches of 5 and put them in public places like waiting rooms or library books as free “Elfin Magic” gifts.  

BECOMING AN ELF

If you haven’t read my blogpost Elfin Magic please check it out.  I was feeling less than positive as the calendar turned to December the year.  But the Elfin Magic I chanced upon transformed my sour mood into smiles and even a guffaw.  It was just a little thing — Christmas balls tied to trees along a walking path, but it felt like they were placed there to just for me to make me smile.  I thought of them nearly every day and smiled.  They brought joy and a sense of mystery and magic to my days.  I want to find ways to spread a little Elfin Magic at least a couple of times this year.  My Elfin Quotation Magic will be one way.  But I need help with this so I’m asking you to please — please — think of inexpensive ways that I might spread a smile to others and let them know that although we may not know each other, I know you are out there and I know you care, too.  Put any ideas you have  in the Comments section so I don’t have to go just on my own ideas.  And join me in doing these small things.  We can make a whole Elfin brigade — think of what smiles and hope and connection can do!!

In 2022 I hope to spread some Elfin Magic with at least 3 or 4 small things done anonymously for others to bring a bit of light and hope and connection in a stressful world.

 With love and hope,

Jane