A lot can change in a year.  Somebody who was your friend now isn’t, somebody you called your spouse now isn’t, the place you called your home now belongs to a bank, the job for which you were paid every Friday no longer exists, things that you thought were going to happen that didn’t, things that you were looking forward to did not fall into place, places you thought you were going that you did not visit, things that you thought were going to get better that got worse…or of course the reverse of all of these things can be true for some too…somebody who was your boyfriend is now your husband and the father of your infant, changes in fortune that you never could have imagined, fell right into your lap, the job that you never thought would come through, did, the wishes that you made last December 31st that you knew were sort of immature and silly, actually came true…some of us had a wonderful year and some of us had a less than wonderful year.  BUT…those of us reading this HAD a year and are still vertical, still on this side of the dirt, still riding on this big blue ball…

Our brains are wired, oddly, I mean what’s the point?!, to focus on the negative and not the positive…why this is true perplexes me but science has shown evidence, repeatedly proved in studies, that this is simply the way it is and it is up to US to rewire the way our brain tissues connect if we want to be the kind of person who seeks out the silver lining, who looks for sunshine on a cloudy day, who finds a reason to smile when things are falling apart in every which way…

So my wish for you as this year comes to a close, and a new year is wide open for all of us, is that if you are one of those souls who has trouble seeing a silver lining, then toss that old habit for a new one, lock it up and throw away the key…find something good, ANYthing positive, any little thing at all, about everything, everyone, everyday, EVERY SINGLE DAY…and if you are one of the fortunate ones who remains hopelessly optimistic, even in the most dire of circumstances, then keep on doing that, and spread that like the flu.