2 JANUARY 2023 DOUBLE THE PLEASURE

Since New Year’s fell on a Sunday this year, today has been designated as a holiday. This is a blessing in my mind because I have enjoyed two mornings, instead of only one, in blissful quiet. Sundays are generally the quietest day of the week (at least for the first part of the day.) Snowy days are often quiet too, until the snow blowers begin to desecrate the sacred silence. It snowed all day yesterday and it is snowing again today. The snow, coupled with the holiday, is providing us with a few hours of sublime quietude. We are getting double the pleasure and a peaceful beginning to a new year. Even my one year old cat has stopped asking to go outside and he has settled down, accepting what is.

This sacred, silent beginning to a new year is encouraging. Dare we hope for more peace, more compassion, and more love in the coming months? Could this be the year that more people not only awaken to the serious threats our planet is facing, but also vow to make the necessary changes in their lives? Will this be the year that the climate deniers pull their heads out of the sand and ask, “What were we thinking?” Can this be the year that we turn the tide of past ignorance to infinite possibilities for a sustainable future?

Today it is quiet enough that I can hear the soothing ticking of my living room clock. My radiant heating makes almost no noise and there is only the sound of the refrigerator cycling on and off, or the occasional car plowing its way through the deep snow on streets that have not yet been plowed. During this time of double the pleasure, can we listen to the silence – and can we heed the messages that we hear there?