1-04-2025 12:03am

A New Year's Happiness in Perspective

Lesley Misko Editor

by Jane Stahl

I hope Donna Ashworth won't mind my sharing her poem; it's just what I needed. Let me explain.

Wishing everyone a "Happy New Year!" always sticks in my throat many times because when I know folks are having a hard time, struggling just to make it through the day, I imagine them wanting to laugh demonically or throw spitballs at me in their mind.

And so, I was relieved when I read Donna Ashworth's poem. She says it just right for me. And I'm grateful. Thank you, Donna. Find her poem in her guided daily journal Words to Live By. https://amzn.eu/d/fMz6Qzv, #happynewyear #newyearsday2025 #welcome2025 #newyearsday2025

When I say "happy new year,"
I’m not for a moment,
expecting this to occur,
for that is not possible,
a year must be all things.

Happiness must come and go,
like the tides and the winds,
just as sadness,
and all the emotions in between.

When I say "happy new year,"
I’m really wishing you,
a baseline of peace,
of gratitude.

Because if you can sit with these things,
for the most part,
happiness will thrive,
when it does arrive,
and sadness will know its place in the mix.

If you can nourish these things,
daily,
you will also grow hope,
for it flourishes in such soil.

And hope is the key,
to this enigmatic state
of "happiness" we seek.

When I say "happy new year,"
I’m really wishing you more happy days,
than sad days,
more joy than misery,
more laughter than tears…
and the wisdom to accept,
that they all belong.

Happy new year, my friends.
Happy new year.