2014 is almost complete! Seriously, it is almost finite, closed, put away, in the archives never to be seen again after 11:59 pm. Chances are good I won't see that time as unless my nose is stuck in a book, I rarely make it past eleven so let me just say a few things.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for being in my life and for helping me to spread the work of this wonderful universe. Thank you for laughing along with me, and hey, if you are laughing at me, that's good too because at least you are laughing! If there is one thing I will do while in this human body is, I will inspire those to not take life so seriously. Have reverence for this life but lighten up people.

Thank you for trusting yourself, your path, your life, your loved ones and bringing those who have croaked in my office, on the phone, Skype, social media or the occasional conversation in the grocery store!

Thank you for the feedback of this blog and how you enjoy my view of this sometimes zany, often challenging and amazingly interesting life we share.

Thank you for being you. Thank you for contributing your unique energy to this last year and the ones before that. Thank you for stretching and growing even if you didn't particularly feel like you wanted to. Thank you for trusting me to help when you couldn't see where to go next or needed that blend of comfort and no b.s. I've been told I possess.

Thank you for teaching me how to be a better person. Some of you may never know it was your judgment and not so kind words that helped me be kinder. It gave me a reference point of who I do not want to be and inspired me to dig deep past the confusion, to look beyond your insecurities and embrace true compassion. For this, I thank you. You may never know because it was this behavior that helped me bid you goodbye as we will bid this year goodbye soon. I am truly grateful.

I have a very full heart and soul and am very excited to see the next year come but before I do, I will review and revere this 2014 masterpiece. I will open my arms up to change while appreciating myself for being willing to be here. I hope you will do the same. I hope you will look at this year and count all the amazing growth you have had. I hope you will be nice to you if you feel you could have done more. Of course you could, and you get another chance to. How cool is that?

Before you toss the year in the recycling bin, give it one more look and give thanks that you even experienced it. Open up to the love that is around you, be willing to receive that love and then offer it out again. That is a recycling plan we can all get behind don't you feel?

So, as we wind up this year, I wish you all the best your life has to offer and more. I wish you the feeling of contentedness of self with a dash of curiosity to keep you wondering....what will this year bring?

See you next year,

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

As many of you are aware, through my request for donations to Gould Farm, I ran a 5k this weekend. This wasn't the first one I have done, but it is the first one I ran the most on. I had done this course last year with no training or even a clue to the path. I pushed through and with determination, made it to the finish line. I didn't enjoy it. I was proud of myself for showing up and doing it but fun, yeah, that was not on the list.

This year I was determined to do things differently. I had a time in mind and had set a soft achievement point (my word for goal as it sounds so much more friendly.) of consistency and less than 13 minute miles. That was all well and good but my main point was to have fun doing it. I was going to remember my breathing and I was going to laugh at the cows who moo'd their pride at our achievements. I was going to smell the leaves that had begun to fall and I was going to honor those that have tried to run through their challenges with mental illness. Sensitive souls who maybe Earth isn't their favorite home!

I was intending to have a joyful experience and I did! Did it hurt at times, you betcha. Was it a sweaty, not really attractive process, oh yeah but that is the fun part too. Learning to accept that life has these moments allows all of the challenges to be joyful in some respect. While I jokingly grumbled about the hills, I was validating to myself that no matter what comes up in my life, I will be able to climb it, run it, roll down it and land in the finish line and I will be smiling as I do it. Not in a fake, cheese it up way, but in a "hell yes I just did that" way.

One of the gifts we have available to us is how we see a situation. I am no Pollyanna, but I just don't get why you would want to focus on what is the hard part of things. So often I hear people say, but he hurt me, or she lied or that boss is a jerk. So? That's their story. What is yours? Where are you going to put your attention? To the things that didn't go well or to the things that did?

One other 5k I did there was an ambulance driver right on my butt. Yes, I was the last person in line. Yes, I was lapped by a seventy something year old who was late starting because he was in the bathroom and yes, that course had hills too. We are in the Berkshires after all. The ambulance pulls up next to me during one of my walk times and the driver says "you are doing exactly zero miles an hour." My first thought was, yeah buddy, on my feet, you are on your choochieboomie doing zero, but I caught myself because I wanted my run to be inspiring to me so I said, "YES I AM!" and turned to face the way I was heading and kept on going. They rode behind me the whole way. The fumes were impressive. I learned a lot that day because it took all I had to talk myself to the finish in a joyous way. I literally re-patterned my thinking along the route which was good because it made me forget about some of those hills and the driver!

I could have let his attitude and judgment bother me but I decided that day that even if I was the last one in, I wasn't, but if I was, I was going to be stinking proud of myself for deciding to be in life in a joyous way. Really, what is the point if you aren't going to do that. What is the point if you are going to allow others limited thinking bother you?

We are all entered into races in our lives. We do them at our pace and we do them to best of our ability, I really believe that. I also believe that our ability can increase and we need to do all we can to get to the loving life place and be contagious about it when we get there! Some race days will be tougher than others, but if you are dressed and ready to go, how you run it is determined by you and no one else.

I wish you all the fun of cows and hills and those oh so sexy headbands to keep the sweat out of your eyes on your journey!

Perhaps a 10k is next......

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com