The New Year begins…Dishcloths

Today was quite the day. Between Donald Trump tweeting about how much Canadians would like to be the 51st State (not) and Prime Minister Trudeau’s resignation (sort of) and a group of Ontario College Faculty planning a strike in the middle of an immigration nightmare that impacts enrollment (and possibly forgetting that the rest of the country is living with food and housing insecurity). I don’t usually comment on “current events” but, honestly, today was TOO much.

I think this day will go down in history – for many reasons. What hit me the most today? We have lost our agency and we do not stand up to people who outright lie to us and impact our lives SO much. Why don’t we? Canadians are frustrated by the state of our country. Faculty are frustrated that their union is not transparent about the process and where they are at – and that the union is impacting their livelihoods and perhaps, putting their jobs in jeopardy – and for what? I understand that there are things they “can’t” say but, being unavailable and unresponsive doesn’t seem fair.

So, today, I finish two new dishcloths. It is a little bit of – no matter what is happening around you – stay positive, create and move forward. Stopping being kind or doing things for others is not going to make the world a better place. Living in fear and not using your own agency to move things forward and speak out will not make the world a better place.

You can disagree with me – and plenty of people will but, the bottom line is, we all have a right to be informed and control our own destinies – we should not live in fear and no one should be able to keep information from us, lie or distort the truth and not be confronted with honesty and integrity.

Pillars for 2025
1. Ditch the facade and embrace reality – accept what you are capable of – embrace the reality of where we are and what we have to do – no delusions or living in denial.
2. Listen to your body – your emotions are messengers, not dictators – don’t allow yourself to be distorted by feelings – create space and broaden my worldview – be the strongest I can possibly be: physically, mentally and spiritually
3. Respond instead of react – expand and create space between stimulus and response – meditation, mindfulness and calm
4. Transcend discomfort – growth must be chosen again and again – fear must be overcome again and again – focus on true inner strength and be who I am…always with honesty and integrity

Written by Pam

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