No Spilt Milk -- Getting Started, by Phoebe Fox

Happy April Fool's Day, and Welcome to a new feature in the newsletter for The Positive Way.  No fooling,

 this really IS a new feature.  You're going to be getting to know me as we journey through one year together in weekly segments.   My goal is to explore and educate, and we will be taking a journey together through a year of weekly articles as we explore various approaches to personal and spiritual growth. 

I'm serious, we are really doing it.  In fact, we're doing it already.  By the way, did you know that April Fool's Day was originally referred to as All Fool's Day?  Since all hearts turn toward love in the Spring, and love makes fools of us all, the logic seems to have been that with Spring starting on March 21st everyone would be feeling or looking foolish by the first of April.  So why not create an official day to recognize that fact?  It became the perfect excuse to play jokes and tricks on one another in an effort to catch someone's wits napping, making more fun out of appearing an even greater fool than one might have otherwise.  But what it really amounts to is an official day of play; a day of being fun-loving without having to apologize for not looking business-like or serious enough, especially in our monetarily driven culture. 

What a wonderful idea, to give oneself permission to play for an entire day; to explore the world around you in the most light-hearted way you can imagine.  Now that is a laudable goal, to devote one day of your year to being light-hearted.  Just saying the word aloud makes me feel lighter of heart and spirit, and somehow more in touch with that childlike part of myself that still peeks out from behind the stage curtains while I'm busy trying to live the adult part of my life.  Go ahead and try it.  Say "light-hearted" to yourself, and see if it doesn't raise your spirits. 

So how will our series get started, and what is this all about?  It's about an idea I had that making positive change in our lives is something many people wish to do, but often find it difficult to begin actually doing something about -- especially if they have to tackle the job alone.  So here's the key:  you are not alone.  We are going to be doing this together for an entire year.  Imagine it, one turn of the year, 52 weeks of inspiration and progress tracking to see how we are doing in achieving our individual goals.  And the great part is, our goals don't even have to be the same!  Choose your own goal, and come along with me for the journey.  I will be reporting my progress to you, and you can check yourself as I will be doing at various points throughout the year. 

For example, I will be writing this series of articles with an eye toward finding encouraging and uplifting ideas to keep us inspired as we continue along our path.  At the end of each month, we will do a monthly progress check to help us stay on track as we move through the year.  At the turn of each season, we will sum up our experiences from the past season and forecast some experiences to look forward to in the season to come.  We will also do quarterly progress tracking at the end of each business quarter on June 30th, September 30th, December 30th, and March 30th. 

With all of this encouragement, we are bound to succeed in whatever goals we set for ourselves.  So why not join us?  I will be here each week, and I look forward to our journey together and the progress we will make.

Come along with me.  The journey begins May 1st!