“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman

The end of every year is a special time for me. I enjoy spending time in the quiet, to reflect. And then as the New Year approaches, I am purposeful about spending time with my family and dear friends. It is in these relationships that we move beyond the past and move into the future. It is with these souls that we find the strength in our own.

This year, especially, I was happy to close out 2015. But no matter how difficult or rough a stretch we endured in 2015, we know we have a fresh start for this year. It is 2016, after all, a blank slate. January 1 always begs the question: What will we do with our coming year?

I’m not one for lots of sentiments or saccharine sweetness. Life isn’t easy and pretending it is doesn’t help anyone. I also don’t want to rehash the past and dwell on the hard things. Nor do I want to check off boxes for rigid New Year’s Resolutions. When it comes to a new year, I’m focused on hope. There is hope, always, for each new day, new month, new year.

In 2012, I wrote a manifesto. It still remains true.

Life is beautiful. You are most beautiful when you do things you love. Embrace them. … Read. Grow. Learn. Discover. Believe. Give and share freely. Enjoy each day. Dig deep. Say thanks. Live LARGE. Catch the Joy as it flies!

One year, I kept “Believe in Yourself. Be You” close. It helped me.

This year, I want to turn away from fear. Fear comes in many sizes: about money, our jobs, our relationships, our future. In whatever shape fear comes, it only makes us smaller. Small is not someone I want to be.

I want to live large. The only way to do that is to move toward faith, toward believing, toward hope and knowing to the essence of our beings that God has what is best for us in mind. It takes open hands, an open heart, and a whole lot of trust, but when we can believe the best is yet to come, it is and will be true.

Light, to me, speaks of all things good and true. I love Whitman’s quote — “Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”

For 2016, I’m focusing on keeping my face turned toward the sun.

The best is yet to come.