Just Peaceful, Just Birds, Just a New Year – Redux

Happy New Year! The post below was originally written and shared two years ago on New Year’s Day in 2024, but I’ve reread them today and am still feelin’ it as my truth. I still find peace at the beach, still photograph gulls incessantly and still believe that we can change, evolve and improve.

I’d love to hear New Year’s thoughts in the comments as we move into 2026.

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Today we mark the start of another revolution around the sun—although that revolution is always in motion, and the calendar is a man-made construct to provide structure for our counting of the days. Why is it that we put so much emphasis on the changeover from one annum to the next? Isn’t today just another day, just another 1/365th of our planet’s ongoing revolution around the bright, warm ball in the sky?

Perhaps our celebration of each new year is a collective symbol of hopefulness, the idea that we can change, evolve and improve.

Just a New Year…

We can start anew with better intentions—and better results.

We can forgive ourselves, if that’s what we need.

We can forgive others.

We can set boundaries.

We can reflect.

We can refresh.

We can embrace peace.

We can learn, and grow, and develop.

We can soften our edges or firm up our resolve – or both.

We can make different choices.

We can spend our time wisely and mindfully.

We can invest in ourselves.

We can explore and be curious.

We can invest in our families, our friends, our colleagues.

We can nurture relationships that bring joy and light into our lives.

We can give ourselves permission to play.

We can choose to be our best selves.

We can listen more and talk less.

We can let go of our “shoulds”, eliminate negative self-talk and believe in ourselves.

We can treat the planet like we love it.

We can assume good intent from each other.

We can appreciate beauty wherever we find it.

We can act with purpose and intentionality.

We can take bold new steps and embark on different journeys.

We can walk away from judgment and embrace acceptance and love.

We can… [add your voice here]

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Shorebirds with a Collective Sense of Purpose

I took hundreds of pictures of birds on the beach in Bay St. Louis on the 2023 Winter Solstice, which was also The Grill-Meister’s birthday. We were in Mississippi at Gumbo Cove for a peaceful respite before the holidays began.

I can’t articulate why, but for me, these birds represent all of those “we can” ideas above. Perhaps it’s because of their cohesion, a seemingly collective sense of peace and purpose, across numerous species of shorebirds, some of whom migrate, and some of whom don’t.

gull-friends in winter
facing the same direction
peaceful collective

The Haiku is for the dVerse Poets Pub Prompt

Soon after I posted this, the first dVerse Poets Pub prompt of the year was released, and the topic was so close to my musings that I updated it to join the New Year’s Day poets’ party by adding the required haiku (above). The prompt, shared by Kim from Writing in North Norfolk, asks poets to write a haibun (prose plus haiku) on their feelings about New Year’s Day. You can find it here: Being Human on New Year’s Day.

No Resolutions, Just This Reflection on Hopefulness

No resolutions for me this year, my friends, just this open reflection in prose form on the hopefulness factor of celebrating the new year.

What do you think? What does the new year mean to you? Do you have a “we can” to add to the list in the poem?

© 2024, Glover Gardens