There's something about the shortening days, with light disappearing by 4:30 p.m., in just a couple of weeks time, as we march to the shortest day of the year, that makes one ponder the recent past.

So many changes were thrust on everyone, it seems, in a span of about 15 months.

Bank failures, job losses, disappearance of venues that one would have expected to go on "forever", bailouts that make currencies appear valueless, wars that erupt throughout the world, collapse of housing markets with subsequent losses of homes...stability is a word that appears to have evaporated on the winds of shift and change.

So important to remember that we are larger than our surround sound.   The roller coaster of life brings ups and downs.    We are tested at every turn, especially in our digital on/off, act/react world.    Barely time to assess, to ponder...immediate response is often required of us.

It sounds like a platitude, but it is the benchmark of all the great philosophies of the world...our attitude shapes our responses and therefore creates our reality. 

As we go into our holiday season, with friends and family at our sides, if not in reality then in thought, let's also ponder how we may go forward into the coming New Year, with a sense of purpose and an expectation for "good".

It's not a "pollyanna" response.    It is sending out into the universe a positive energy.   That old adage that "what goes around, comes around" is a truth.   We get back what we send out.

Change brings opportunity, if we are open to "see" it, and to welcome it.    It's coming anyway...as Heraclitus noted, back in Ancient Greece, "change is the only constant".

Good to welcome it with positive response.