Renewal

Well, that's it! Summer's over! This is the last day of the last weekend of August, and I can't see that there's any turning back. In my mind I have already begun to formulate the transformations I wish to make in my life, yet another of those new beginnings. September 1st will be the springboard of providence. The Fall I find is generally a time of refreshment anyway. It lends itself with impunity to reflection and taking stock, sitting by fires, wrapped in wool blankets, dozing and gazing out of patio windows onto cedar decks, watching the decline of life in earthen flower pots and surrounding trees as it prepares for Winter and reawakening in the Spring.

There is something frantic about Summer by comparison, all that excitement about being active and going here and there. So I welcome the opportunity to withdraw from the arena of activity and contemplate life in its abstract terms. Moving towards the last quarter of the year also highlights what a race it has been to this point to get here. Fixated as we are upon the calendar year, every business person knows the meaning of the numbers thus far. Except for retail (which notoriously relies heavily upon the Christmas trade), most businesses by now will have a reasonable barometer of their success for the year.

The evolution of personal development is at least theoretically always possible, though some would argue that at a certain juncture the likelihood is slim, especially for those of agèd years. Nonetheless I am one of those who harbour perpetual reassurance for advancement and improvement, change in a word. As committed as I am to my many bad habits, I find amazingly that if I just modify directions, I can propel myself with equal enthusiasm in alternative paths. I have no idea what it is that enables one to make such decisions, but clearly it is a posture which one does not regularly adopt. For the most part, one simply repeats what one has done time and time again. Even if one briefly contemplates amendment, the motivation to do so is usually lacking. Little things like change of seasons, or the beginning of new month, provide some provocation, but I suspect more often than not, they are mere coincidences. The underlying motivation for change is more accurately a culmination of many factors, things which have been steeping in one's mind and heart for some time. In its plainest terms, I find I reach a point where I am simply fed up with myself. To persevere as before provides empty prospects, whereas some deviation holds hope and maybe even promise. I acknowledge that I may yet eat these words, but for the time being I congratulate myself for such plausible industry.