The beautiful blue freedom of flying across the water at Santa Cruz calls…if you’re prepared.

It was an exhilarating sport to watch, and reminded me of this quote:

A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.
Charles Schwab

For what do you have unlimited enthusiasm?

Smile 50 times a day, every day.

Even if you don’t let anyone see you smile, smile anyway.

Without fail, 50 times a day.

Better yet?

Share your 50 smiles.

Give them away.

50 smiles.

Every day.

Think I’m kidding?

Just try it.

50 smiles a day.

It’s light-giving exercise that elevates you, and is a gift for the people you face.

Give those smiling muscles a workout, at least 50 times a day.

What are you waiting for?

Start now.

Smile 1, smile 2, smile 3…

Soon you’ll feel what I mean.

I was amused at this quick moment on a trip last fall to New York City.

A couple of policewomen couldn’t help but to glance for a moment at shoes on their rounds of the city.

After all, beautiful shoes are beautiful shoes, no matter who you are, or what job you walk.

We react and adapt when we must.

And when faced with a gray day, a bright, cheerful umbrella can go a long way to chase the blue and gray away.

What’s your best defense against an otherwise dreary day?

Each path to a destination gets you there, sometimes in its own way and time.

And most journeys provide a few twists and turns along the way, of some kind.

As you think back over your life, which journeys have been your most interesting ones: the straight paths or the slightly less predictable kind?

And which journeys have been most valuable in your life: the straight-ahead-paths or the slightly meandering kind?

I’ve thought about this many times as I worked my way toward some high goal I’d set for myself, or tried to move beyond a difficult life circumstance.

Acceptance is commonly-offered advice for anyone going through challenging times, or great change of any type.

I think of a friend whose husband is helping his mother close down her home and prepare to move to a retirement community. I think of managers who are frustrated by their employees, employees frustrated by their managers. I think of people trying to lose weight, or to do other things to improve their health.

Advising that someone accept a circumstance is easy to say.

But it’s much, much harder to do.

Think about each of these situations for a moment. Consider what it takes to fully DO:

1. Accept yourself, completely.

This means fully acknowledging all your strengths and weaknesses, achievements and mistakes, opportunities you took and the ones you missed or chose not to take.

This means accepting the wholeness of you, just as you are, right now.

2. Accept someone else, completely.

This means fully acknowledging someone else, including their strengths and weaknesses, just as they are, right now.

It means accepting whatever relationship and history exists between the two of you.

3. Accept a situation completely, just as it is, right now.

This means acknowledging a situation fully, whatever it is, just as it is, now.

This may mean accepting the hard work, and the odds that you face as you decide to pursue a goal.

It may mean accepting the resources you need to gather, or the learning and personal change you need to do.

It could mean acknowledging a present situation that’s far worse than what you once imagined, or hoped

What’s the real power in acceptance?

Often you can’t release burdens unless you acknowledge that they exist. You can’t muster the energy and effort to get moving to become what you really wish, or create the situation you really want, to be unless you acknowledge that you’re somewhere else.

Energy that’s invested in pretending, “Everything’s fine!” can’t be released and invested in really making it so.

Take a deep breath.

Accept.

Be with, and let be, what is.

Then, when you’re ready, let go.

Move beyond what is.

And then, make things different, and better.

And accept again at each step, as things change and move forward.

The challenge often isn’t in the doing.

The challenge is in accepting what is fully enough to be able to really, and finally, let it go.

This thought made me laugh:

“Today I will be happier than a bird with a french fry.”

It’s the idea our daughter sees as she leaves her apartment every day.

And just for a moment – an important moment – it creates a smile that brightens her eyes and lightens her heart as she enters the day, and sometimes the fray.

What will you be happier than today?

Perhaps this serendipitous picture reminds you of your average work day:

Flying along, the day barely underway.

And since that’s just the beginning, the rest flies along at an even faster pace.

If this looks and sounds familiar, don’t forget to pause now and then to take a deep breath.

Find your calm center.

It’s there, and it can help guide you through the busy-ness of a rapid-cycle day.

These may be just some of the things that you notice when you pause and reflect:

- A sense of accomplishment at the things you’ve achieved

- A bit of regret at goals not met yet

- Excitement about the fresh year just ahead

I was thinking the other day about the finish line of a year, and how to make the most of the end point it represents.

Suddenly, I realized with a smile that the reason I love New Year’s is the starting line it creates, instead.

What does the New Year’s milestone represent to you?

1. A finish line

If New Year’s represents primarily endings to you, consider these things as you look back:

- How are you different now from what you were like a year ago?

- What are you happiest about with the way the year worked out for you?

- What do you wish you could change, or had done differently?

- Are there things you learned to accept, forgive or forget this year?

2. A starting line

If your focus at New Year’s is on new beginnings, and the fresh possibilities of a brand new year, consider these things as you look ahead:

- What’s one change you’d like to make in 2011?

- What would you like to learn this year? How can you do that most easily?

- In what ways would you like to challenge or test yourself in positive ways this year?

3. Both endings and beginnings

If you see both sides of the milestone – the finish line for one year, the starting line for a new one – consider these things as you prepare to move forward well:

- Are there expectations it would be helpful for you to let go of?

- Are there habits you would like to eliminate? How about habits you’d like to create?

- Are there dreams you’d like to give a test drive this year with even a single, simple first step?

However you see the milestone of the New Year, consider how you want to feel about yourself, your work and life at the end of 2011.

Let that felt sense of “you in a year” guide decisions about how you spend time, money, energy and attention throughout 2011.

And let this one be your best year yet.

They’re usually full of stories of achievement and change.

One family who usually sends a chatty end-of-year newsletter sent a page with just a few pictures this year.

They needed no explanation.

This from two writers, people who love words and use them well.

One picture showed a son’s wedding, unexpected after it seemed he was content and committed to the single life.

Three more photos showed a new relationship that appeared to provide stability for another son and his children who’d had little in the past few years.

There was also a picture of a grandmother (and great grandmother) who had passed away after many years of illness.

This beautiful stark page from a couple of writers…just labels under photos that showed evidence of great 2010 change.

It made me stop and think. If I were sharing photos of the 3-5 most important moments of the year what those photos be?

They would include a graduation, two moves and a milestone trip.

And also the gathering of long-time friends, the publishing of a first book, and a kitchen that is normally a busy place at the holidays but now it’s busy over a longer time and in different ways.

What would the 3-5 photos that tell the story of your year include?

And looking ahead, what 3-5 photos would you like to have in a year to tell the story of 2011 for you?

Have your camera ready!