“The trees are coming into leaf, like something almost being said;” Say what you mean.

• I’ve come across many people in my life who say one thing but don’t mean it. It is so easy sometimes to not want to say something we are thinking because we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. Isn’t it much better, though, to say the truth so we aren’t leaving everyone in the awkward position of wondering if they can trust the words you’ve said to them? Communication is key to any type of relationship, whether with family members or significant others. Don’t leave words left unsaid on the tip of your tongue. The other person can tell that you mean to say something else, trust me.

“Their yearly trick of looking new, is written down in rings of grain.” Don’t try to be something you’re not.

• The world asks for us to conform more often than not. Beauty, relationships, job applicants, personalities; we are constantly told to change into someone to be the person others are looking for and want to see. I have news for you. Stop changing. Stop conforming. You don’t have to! Let your hair down and be who you were created to be. When the world tells you to look and act a certain way, laugh and say “but I’m happy being me” with a smile. There is no need to be superficial when you were created uniquely.

“Last year is dead, they seem to say, begin afresh, afresh, afresh.” Leave the past in the past.

• Most of us have things in our past we are not proud of. Sometimes at 3am they haunt our dreams or nighttime thoughts leaving us with some sleepless nights. I am writing to tell you that you can let it go! The past no longer can hold onto you since it has already passed (see what I did there). We live in the present where we wake up each day with a brand-new day ahead of us. Why would we waste so much of our wonderful life worrying about what has already gone? Life is a gift. Smile every day and laugh more. To reference the well-worn but very true quote said by many an author and poet, “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift, that is why we call it the present.”