“Change” – Gemini_Generated_Image by Pat Ruppel 12-21-25
I have an analogy for you to accept an extended invitation to a challenge for the New Year 2026. This being, to challenge yourself to change and the change is you. Here is the analogy:
You have a friend helping you push a heavy car up a hill, and you both know nothing about its mechanics. You can put a lot of manpower behind it and be successful getting it up there – one on one side and one on the other side. You can even discover there are better ways to get it up by pulling it from the top of the hill. And, as you get good at that and realize the success of it working for you, creativity kicks in.
You invent stronger ways to push and stronger ways to pull. You get excited! More creativity kicks in and you invent devices and tools, and you soon discover you can not only get the car up the hill, but you can even get it down the road. Wow! It’s looking good, and you keep going with the discoveries and inventions, and there’s no telling how far you can get cars up hills and down roads.
As it goes along, you use the same methods with the other things in your life and it all seems to fit together – working hard, streamlining and improving on pushing and pulling. But, over time, you begin to wonder if there could be a better way, but you don’t know you need to look.
Things start to wear out; cooperation and manpower is no longer there like it used to be. But you pursue and push onward, believing you’ve just got to work harder and push more. Over time, you’re realizing it’s just not working anymore like it used to. Something needs to change – you need help and another way.
Well, you can probably see where this is going. We can’t see another way if we don’t get out of our own way. That means being willing to see and try something different. How can you do that when you’ve had so much success and things have worked well for so long? But it’s like Victor Hugo said,
“There’s nothing more powerful than an idea, whose time has come.”
I accepted an invitation to a different challenge like this last year, December 2024, for 2025. I felt stuck, scared to get out of my comfort zone and things weren’t working as well as they used to. My challenge last year was to help me see things differently, identify the things holding me back, and journal about them in depth.
A challenge like this is not for everyone, nor is it supposed to be. It’s not another New Year’s resolution proposal. It’s private and about getting real looking within yourself; writing and reflecting asking for answers to things you need help with on an intimate level between you, your inner being and your source (God, Jesus, Spirit, Grandfather, Buddha, whatever you want to call it); because it’s yours and belongs to you. No judgements, exercises.
You make the rules, and you’re met right where you’re at. There’s no time limit and you can quit anytime. It’s up to you. It’s not a competition and no one is watching and grading your results, only you go how far or deep you want to take it.
Being honest with yourself and committing to taking responsibility in making new choices and feeling through what that is takes courage and a willingness to let go of how you used to do things to find a better, more efficient way. So, back to finishing the analogy:
Ah-ha! You find more information on cars, once you start looking for it, and you actually discover a manual. It talks about gas, ignition, steering, and there IS a new way.
So, let’s pop that gas tank, connect and fill it up, allowing those supernatural gases to flow into your being. Open that door and get in, sit down and turn on the ignition, feel that energy and life flow in. Test the brake, and gears, rev the gas pedal and hear the power. Vroom!!
Now, you’ve got it! You’ve included the life force in you that’s been there all along. So, let’s get this puppy up the hill and down the road and see where it takes you.
It couldn’t have been said any better than by Patanjali, an author of Yoga Sutras from India, many centuries ago:
“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”
~ Patanjali
Hold on tight for the ride of your life, and be open and prepared, because it will take you places you have never been before. It makes it easier working together with the highest wisdom and knowledge that knows everything, and how all things work. It takes being brave to make a commitment to cooperate another way, instead of expecting others to cooperate with what you want. This is different. Instead of only looking outside for directions and guidance, you’re looking within, and it takes being quiet and listening with your heart with trust.
The world around us is changing rapidly and issues are coming down the pike. We’re going to need to make serious choices, and we need insight and wisdom beyond what has been used before on how to do that. So, if this speaks to you, there’s no better time than New Year’s 2026 to take the leap for a new, third way that includes helping everyone and everything; not self-serving, but caring for our planet, nature and one another with care and compassion like never before.
There’s a perfect poem by Rumi that explains it more in depth for me:
This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and attend them all: Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
~~ Rumi
God bless all of you this beautiful Christmas season and the upcoming New Year 2026.
Here we are at the beginning of another New Year. I wish you love and peace around the world. May we be kind to one another and the offer of hope far and wide.
God bless you.
Here is Kenny G – Auld Lang Sune (Millennium Mix 2010)
It’s been a good 2023 year for us rambling around in our Colorado mountains. Not much to write about and that’s good compared to all of what’s reported these days. Life is simple in our golden years and the highlights are walking with our dog and watching the birds.
I love these casual days and each one is different as they unfold. I couldn’t be more blessed and wish the same for all of you as this old year fades and a new one appears on the horizon. May your dreams be happy and your promises fulfilled.
Earth space universe globe Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com (https://www.pexels.com/photo/earth-space-universe-globe-41953/)
So, here we are, on our trip around the sun, near the end of another year on this glorious blue ball we call earth. This time each year we reflect on the past 12 months, while also looking to the new year with hope and expectations. Just like every day, we get to start over again, fresh, each year trying to get it right.
I’m imagining, like you, we’ve all had our share of ups and downs in 2022. Some more than others. But, as I move along in these golden years, I’m reminded to look at them differently and take on a different perspective. I’ve learned to ebb and flow more freely these days through whatever unfolds. I can’t say it’s easy, but I feel grace in it. Grace that seems to match however great the need. I’ve read a few times that with God there is no order of difficulty.
“Bring your mind inside your heart and the world will not trouble you.” ~~ Mooji
Throughout the year, I’ve seen neighbors challenged with cancer, friends dealing with death, family at crossroads with life choices. I’ve been there and I’m trying to be there for them while the world appears to be unstable in these times. But it’s not that it hasn’t happened before. When the next time comes around and similar events pop up, I think what I’ve learned is we get another chance to do it differently that hopefully will put us on the right path for how this life works.
Something else I’ve learned is not to automatically react to life situations but to pause to notice what I’m feeling in the moment. If I pause long enough, instead of reacting, maybe another choice will present itself. Amazing, how that happens to work out more often. And I’ve also discovered that if health issues show up, I can look to the inside for answers as well as work with my resources on the outside.
From Rainier Maria Rilke in “Letters to a Young Poet”:
"I want to beg you be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves. The point is to live everything. Live the questions and now perhaps you will find them. Perhaps you will then gradually without noticing it live along some distant day into the answer.”
Life is beautiful in all its many shapes and forms. You can’t get it wrong. Even the lowest parts are gifts that put us in touch with what’s important and force us to look for something beyond our reality. Laugh, cry, get mad – but feel and embrace all of it, instead of react, and you’ll find it will take you to another place. Be kind to yourself in that place and you’ll remember who you are. Then, you will begin to know your path.
We’re just passengers on this living blue vessel, as it keeps floating on course no matter what is happening — steadily ticking along. We will be at the end of our journey before we know it and events and challenges can help us make changes that really count. It’s a beautiful life and it’s a beautiful journey.
Happy New Year, my friends, and God bless you on your next journey around the sun.
Copper pennies found in parking lot – Photo by Jim Ruppel 9-25-22
Shiny pennies. Never thought much about them until the other day, when I stepped out of my parked car and noticed 2 of them shining brightly on the asphalt. They drew my attention and the thought that immediately popped in my head was of something Wayne Dyer said years ago. “. . . symbols of abundance.”
When I noticed that thought, I felt an immediate connection and was drawn to them. Almost, like they jumped up from the ground saying, “Pick me up!” “Pick me up!”. Sounds silly, I know. But, after living these many years, I’ve learned not to ignore those little God winks. Turns out, a couple of days later, that little thought became a reality.
I have a craft shop online where I sell pinecones I collect from our property. I had a bumper crop in 2020 and collected over 2,000 pinecones, washed, baked, painted and some dipped in beeswax as fire starters. I kept them stored and ready to sell and ship out to anyone interested in pinecones for a project they were doing.
I would get a buyer now and then, especially over the holidays, or for weddings. So, they were not moving in large quantities, and I was okay with that. My pinecones and me have a “love affair” going on and I am attached to them. They have an energy to them that I feel and a life, particularly when watching them close up and open after washing them and dry in the hot sun.
Pinecones from my Colorado mountain backyard.
But, after picking up the pennies and noting the thought about “symbols of abundance”, something started to happen. I was getting orders left and right and not for a dozen here and there. It was for 75 and 100 pinecones at a time.
I remember telling my husband, after shipping out the first couple of orders in one day that it was the best day I ever had. Then, the next day, I got three orders in the morning and 2 more in the evening. I never had so much business. I was wondering if I could keep everything straight but soon discovered I still had those old secretary skills.
I even had one order where a gal wanted to use them as treats for her hamsters and rabbits. So, we worked it out that, for a discount, she would buy my broken and wonky ones and have treats for her animals and I wouldn’t have to throw out broken pinecones. Turned out to be a win-win for both of us.
Within several days, I sold out. It seemed to all happen in a flash. For a while, I had all those pinecones covered in boxes and storage containers, and now, they were all gone. It was a little miracle and comes every day in one form or another, if I notice.
I know it’s been almost a year since I last posted. Not a lot going on for a retired couple in their mid to late ’70’s, just rolling along enjoying each day and each other as it unfolds. So, there hasn’t been a lot to write about until this event and, guess you could say, inspiration came along with it. I listened to that little nudge this time and decided to write about it.
Thank you for reading and hope you are safe and well.
