Endings are often beginnings...

I’m currently doing renovation work on the house I spent the first 13 years of my life in. Hence last Friday’s post regarding removing a wall - http://myfighttowrite.blogspot.com/2010/12/breaking-down-wall.html - and my general talk of doing “real work” at the moment.

Today I took down the back pergola (patio, verandah – I’m not sure what people in other countries call it) completely, every last bit deconstructed and piled up as firewood. It was constructed of treated wood posts and beams about 30 years ago when I had barely learned to walk. It’s stood there for all that time to finally be taken apart today, gone forever.

I do realise it’s just a pergola but I had many good times under and around that pergola as a child, playing in my backyard or having a barbeque outside with the family. I was also thinking as I removed some of the structural bolts, which had not moved in 30 years, about my Dad putting them in. All the hard work, money, time and hopes for the future that went into building that pergola. Now it’s no more. I can imagine for that reason it was hard for my Dad to make the decision to take it down, although he didn’t indicate so, probably because he knows it’s just a pergola. It's just a "thing".

So what’s my point in all this reflection and explanation?

I know for me I can easily get hung up on “things” and the past. I’ve kept a lot of things from my past that I know full well I should have thrown out long ago. There certainly are things I’m very glad I’ve kept and will likely never throw out. But many others I just kept because I didn’t want to let go of them.

But what am I holding onto?

And why am I holding onto it?

What do I gain from holding onto it?

One thing that is clear is that these things have relatively little relevance to today. The pergola did a great job for its 30 years, providing shade, a structure for things to grow on, a structure for young boys to jump up and hang off or try to do chin-ups on. Thank-you pergola – but 30 years later it’s time for it to come down and make way for a new era of pergola.

So the right thing for “now” is to take down the pergola. To keep it up just for sentimental reasons would not be beneficial, maybe even dangerous. So when we get our minds out of the past it can leave us free to make the best decision for today. To quote from “Closing Time” by Semisonic (a very relevant song to this subject) – “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” If you want a new beginning today you must be willing to let go of yesterday. What are you holding onto and why? Is it actually benefiting you to hold onto it or is it just holding you back – preventing you from making a positive decision and action for today and your future?

This stems to anything that’s in your past really. Not just material things. You may have had hopes for something. A relationship, a business, an idea? Maybe you bought something with a certain intention and now it sits somewhere gathering dust because you keep saying (annoyed with yourself) that you are going to use it eventually, in fact you must or you will continue to be annoyed with yourself. How about just throwing it away and find a more positive thing to focus on? A new goal or a new way to help you and others smile today.

There are many, many more examples I could quote but I’m just going to leave it with you to think about.

When you break things down to today then life, and the decisions that go into it every day, get a lot simpler. Try it sometime. I’m going to. Being New Year it's the perfect time to encourage new beginnings and let go of old baggage that's weighing you down.

All this is very relevant to the start of a new year. One year must end so another can begin. Have a think about what you want to be different in your life next New Year? Make whatever positive decisions you can today, and every day, and then take action on those decisions so these changes can begin to happen.

A little bit of progress is worth more than piles of good intention and no progress.

This is my favourite quote right now - "An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Remember this and I'm sure the coming year will bring many positive changes in your life.

Let’s consider today’s creativity this “article” about focusing on "now". This entry is about long enough…