Same Old Dependable Sunrise Story

At the change of day-- sunrise, sunset-- the light from a relatively clear sky appears more pink than at midday. The land looks softened under the softer light. There's a scientific explanation. Same old story made new again and again. Dependable, with just enough that's different.

One of my friends has decided to keep a journal this year in which she daily records one thing for which she gives thanks. She wants each day's entry to be something original. She says she recognizes that at the beginning of the year it's easy to write a new thing daily, but as the days go forward some things will begin to reappear. Yes.

You can change your life! Put old thoughts behind you! Set your intention to _______! You fill in the blank. Think positive. Lose weight, get fit, get strong and well. Let go of that old, negative stuff. Make a million. Save time. Save money. Save energy. The list goes long.

All both true and not true. We do not wake up one day and change our DNA. Cells die and regenerate, making us new, following the pattern. There's evidence in the nature-nurture debate that who we are, how we experience and respond to the world, depends first on our body chemistry. We seek to avoid the problems of a DNA pattern change.

Further, we depend on our habits, on all the world's patterns: natural, engineered, social...

I think of earthquakes, and war zones, and remodeling projects, birth or death in the family, and I am so thankful for the same old story made new again and again. Big changes are tough. Let my changes be subtle, built slowly on a foundation of same old, dependable and known.

Hello, dependable sunrise.