All good wishes for a peaceful and successful 2016.
New Year ushers in a sense of hope and the possibility of change. It is a time for resolutions and looking forward, making plans and hoping for change. Change in our personal circumstances, in our society and the world as a whole. Change is often difficult and needs a very conscious effort to bring it about and not to be daunted. In my last blog I suggested that we should face the unknown and see it as an adventure. Sometimes we need a guide and a supporter to help us on the way and other times the adventure raises the spirit and energises us.
I was reminded that Christmas celebrates a time of change. It augers in the sense of hope and a new world order and is a time when we can reflect on what has been achieved and where we go next. It also serves as a reminder about those individuals who are alone, perhaps more fearful of the future and no longer see life as an adventure if they have sustained losses or bereavements.
Finding out people’s stories, what matters to them and how their past can positively be carried into the future may enable change to be easier. “ Listening to someone is a multi-dimensional activity, complex, demanding ad mutually enriching for it is as we listen like this that we hear not only what someone is saying but also who he or she is” (Anne Long; Listening 1990).
Listening is a much appreciated gift.
Maureen O’Neill