Three Pictures, Three Statements to Complete the Year
A few simple thoughts on last year and the next
In these dim and foggy days of December, we are about to close The Book of 2023 and open The Book of 2024.
It’s been said that good things come in threes. Here are three thoughts to consider.
Often less is more
It’s worth reflecting on how great some of the simple things in life are, every single day. People who feel gratitude and appreciation for what they have are happier and healthier as a group. And it rubs off on others. Bonus.
From Jim Carrey, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
How might this concept impact your New Year’s resolutions, if you are a person who makes resolutions?
People who have no more than a few sticks can (and do) still find joy and beauty in the world.
We don’t have perfect vision. Perhaps we can listen
Many of us filter what we see with our own sense of clarity about how people are, and how the world is. We may seek to categorize the world distinctly, sharply contrasting one thing from another, one person, one group. Whether it’s racial, sexual, religious, political, socio-economic, or any other way we look at things. But it’s a filter that can impair our vision. With that filter, we may stop listening to any other perspectives.
The truth is rarely as sharp and clear as most of us would like.
Can you appreciate grey?
What can you hear if you listen?
Embrace change and the unknown, and fly towards it, not away
Throughout human history, change has been continual.
As Arthur Ashe told his 6-year old daughter in his final letter, as he was dying at age 49: “Believe me, most people resist change, even when it promises to be for the better. But change will come, and if you acknowledge this simple but indisputable fact of life, and understand that you must adjust to all change, then you will have a head start.”
Please, give yourself a head start.
Finally, a note about the things I have been writing here on Substack, since my first publication on August 31st of this year 2023.
Frequently I look the images I’ve made and imagine what stories they could or should tell. Then I write. As in today’s edition, the stories can go in any number of directions. But eventually a message or story seems to urge me to be written. Funny then, as I was looking for the first Arthur Ashe quote, I also found he said this:
“Art comes from an urge as primal as that of survival itself.”
Funny what can happen when you listen to the urge. I recommend it! 1
Happy New Year, everybody.
Is there something here you like or dislike? Questions? Have anything else to say? Let us all know by clicking on the Comments button below, and express yourself. Don’t be shy, now.
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You may well argue that this quote about Art has become a Fourth Statement, after the title of this letter promised there would only be Three. But that last one was Arthur’s statement, so I’m calling it good.
happy new year!
Thank you for these letters - they have been interesting and uplifting