A Very Intentional Holiday Season.

What a couple of years we've had, huh?

For a year that was ironically called 2020, very few of us saw it coming. The other side of that "2020" pun however, is that for many people is was the beginning of questioning our vision of politics, the media, what we want for our planet and our dreams for our col-lective and individual lives.

2020 was a slap upside our head for many of us. It left us reeling, dizzy and looking for footing.

2021 found us trying to define the balance and stability we longed for. It was a year when priorities, preferences and boundaries were re-examined and redefined.

My hope is that we can take the shake-up of 2020 and the regrouping of 2021 and start forging a more intentional life in 2022.

If we were paying attention, we should now know that we have taken so much for granted. We should also have realized that life is short and precious, and that none of us are immune to pain or loss.

We should also recognize that although so much is out of our control, we ultimately have a lot more power in creating our lives than we were led to believe.

We can choose what we let into our psyche. We can pick where we put our energy. We get to decide what relationships, jobs, and situations work for us and which don't. Most important of all, we can pause, take a breath, and choose to respond rather than react to what life hands us.

Yes, there has been a lot of loss the last few years. We have lost lives, a sense of com-munity and connectedness, a sense of safety and trust in our government to name a few.

Despite the losses, there have been gains too.

My hope for you this holiday season, and in the year and years to come, is that you can focus on the gains, the lessons, and the magic of it all. I hope you can laugh, feel and give love and feel a sense of contentment and wonder. Most of all, I hope you can pull the brakes a bit on the auto-pilot ride that has brought us here, figure out what you want your life to look like, and start living every day with intention.

Here's to 2022 and beyond!