“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.
If you’ve seen any news lately, you might have noticed stirrings and unrest in the United States. It gives a whole new meaning to the term, “ugly American”. Perhaps, it’s not new for generations past, but for those of us alive today, I feel we’re on uncharted territory. It’s not apocalyptic ― but this type of collective unrest is a new unknown ― a wake-up call. It’s like we’re approaching a tipping point and now it’s critical, for me, to learn how to respond and discover what I feel? Continue reading →
Starlings by Marilyn Peddle – Courtesy of PhotoDropper (https://www.flickr.com/photos/71153021@N00/4357665982)
I haven’t written much nor have I been in the mix lately. I apologize. There’s a reason for that — I’m not going to lie. I’ve been facing personal demons and struggling with writing about it. I don’t want to add any more drama than is already out there. Instead, maybe sharing a bit of the process for me to finally break free of old beliefs that no longer serve me will help some of you.
Something is shifting within me and calling. I can feel it, though, I’m not quite sure what it is or where it will take me. So, I’ve been laying low and, needless to say, resisting a lot. Only this time, the ‘forces-that-be’ appear to have been set in motion and won’t be denied.
It’s a battle between mind and heart, as I am again sitting at this computer and, for the “nth” time, attempting to write this story. It’s difficult because I’m living the story as I write it. It’s forever changing and my thoughts are jumbled up. Yet, my heart compels me to write. So, here goes. Continue reading →
Underwood No. 5 keys Photo by Pat David Courtesy of PhotoDropper
I was humbled today in a very tender way. So much so, I felt embarrassed and was moved to tears. It led me to write this post to capture what I felt so I would remember.
As is the case, I’m grateful in not having to plan most of my days. Instead, I enjoy watching them unfold. I found myself this morning watching this day unfold by attending to techy, computer work. Hubby had gotten another external hard drive with more space to back up our files as I had run out of room on the other drive. I tend to accumulate stuff and have difficulty purging. That’s a topic I’ll save for a different time.
It seemed simple. Create a new folder on the new drive and copy and paste files over from my laptop. As he was giving me the instructions on the new drive, I found my chest and throat tightening to a point where I was having trouble talking. I was panicking about something new to learn and afraid of messing up something I believed to be important. I know it sounds crazy.
I’ve felt this before when I’ve had difficulty understanding, afraid of losing something or screwing it up beyond repair. I don’t know why I get myself so worked up with computer stuff. Lord knows I’ve worked my way through so much in creating a blog, videos, and e-book, even worked as an administrative assistant for some 25+ years. So, on it went with the banter back and forth until I just copied the ‘dang’ files over . . . and then it happened. Continue reading →
It’s that time of the year, when you hear of graduations, see the excitement of young faces and read of their stories in the media. A new chapter is beginning in their young lives and they’re being launched out in the world.
Some have plans and others will figure it out as they go. For my eldest daughter, it was to be a Registered Nurse and, for my youngest, it was to be an author and self-employed entrepreneur building keepsake trunks.
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Times have dramatically changed now growing up as a teenager, when for me it was the ’60’s and then much later for our daughters. I can still relate to the spontaneous fun and hanging out with friends. There’s no other time like it. Continue reading →
