today's recipe for the journey

Maybe it's the effective osmosis of new year thinking, a wake-up call or a dormant longing, but it's time for me to get out of myself. There are too many things that I want to accomplish and ways I want to grow that aren't served by remaining on my present path.

I need to acknowledge that, given the dark and wounded place of my life nine months ago I am grateful that I am on any path at all. All the same, this present path is well beaten and rather indistinct. I am a creature who needs a certain amount of familiarity for comfort and refuge, but I also know that I thrive on discovering new things and encountering new horizons. The latter have been missing for too long, and it is up to me to change that.

I am not making a resolution. Of late I have noted patterns that interfere with achieving simple tasks, never mind larger goals and satisfying dreams. Part of discovery is zeroing in on those and finding ways to alter, if not overcome them. This is about dedication. Time to focus on a few of the trees so that I may enjoy the entirety of the forest.

Frankly, that shouldn't be so hard to do. I have always loved trees, so I guess the thing to do is honor the love. Embrace the tree. Take the time to admire the beauty as well as the metaphor and learn from it. One tree at a time. That's it. And before I know it I will have worked my way from tree to tree through the forest, tracing my own path and encountering who knows what along the way. That sounds like the Anne I know and love.

I feel better already.