My husband loves everything new.  I remember when Apple came out with iTunes.  Andy was all in and had to keep reminding me to buy music digitally.  I was not always as comfortable with new- ideas, products, or ways of being. It took time and life to teach me how empowering and life-giving new and change can be.

New doesn’t always come as a welcomed guest. Sometimes you must to make a change in your life or life gives you the opportunity for change. Most of the time, an alternative idea or way of seeing sneaks up on you.  Either way, when something fresh is offered in my life, I have found meeting it with imagination and curiosity helps me move towards the what is new, different, or even a little strange.

I have found that having an imagination is helpful, not only to image the change must happen but to allow your mind to envision something new. Allowing your mind to imagine the new habit makes it more likely that you will add it to your life. For example, when I know I need to add more exercise in my life, I imagine how I will feel more energized. Imagining the new positive feeling helps me make the changes necessary to move my body more throughout the day.

For me, curiosity also helps when I am trying something new. If I approach an original thought or point of view with curiosity, knowing I don’t have to come to a conclusion, I am more likely to entertain all ideas, even aspects I wouldn’t normally consider.

Every day is an opportunity to change, evolve, and become the best version of myself.  Greeting each morning, with curiosity and imagination helps me move forward towards those changes, no matter how challenging they may be. It helps me find the beauty in all the moments of my day.

Morning Poem- by Mary Oliver

Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange

sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches —
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it

the thorn
that is heavier than lead —
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging —

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted —

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.

My dear friend Melissa is also sharing her thoughts on “refresh”.  Follow this link to her blog to read more.