nice moves
Jeff H Barrett
B.A. CIM linkedin.com/in/jeffhbarrett @nextgeninvestor
The “Winter of Our Discontent?” juleschamberlain.ca
9028176007
agentimmobilier/realtor®
So, what should we talk about this time? What analogies can I conjure? Immediately what comes to mind is some comparison of the New Year to the barren emptiness of the winter. If you will allow me to visualize, I will elaborate by exploring thoughts of resurrection; the crackling over the past harvest by sterility and barrenness; angled and sharp forms covering the landscape; a wintered ‘dust bowl;’ perhaps the kinetic wiping away of past energies. No wonder we love New Year’s Resolutions. Personally, I don’t buy into the idea. I do, however, feel an unmistakable ‘fresh start’ every January. Why is this? I think it is in our nature to live (at least in Canada) in a cycle of growth, harvest, and rebirth; following an example set by nature. Admittedly, nothingness is as appealing as everything sometimes; this leads to necessary self-thought. There is something beneficial about taking stock (forgive the pun) of past and future. We want to wrestle a bigger and better something for the upcoming growth stage; and we want it to break through the ice with a greater reaching determination than the previous year. As you look out at the snow, it throws a cover over last year’s efforts: A white, visually-clean, blank slate that spurs you into ‘creation.’ You think: ‘What will I do in 2013?’ ‘How can I do better than 2012?’ ‘I wonder if the Mayan apocalypse stopped me from caring about the future.’ You laugh to yourself and remember that the Mayans never saw a winter so they didn’t know to start over in 2013. You acknowledge another digression, as do I. My point here is to remind you to embrace the opportunities of a barren and empty New Year and to acknowledge its connection to our own nature’s unstable efforts at rebirth. I can see you again getting off topic, saying to yourself: ‘Do you think the Australians understand New Year’s resolutions the same way I do? Would I have the same visceral reaction to renewal if it were midsummer? Hmm...I wonder.’ What this illustrates is that we have learned to live in cycles of variation: ups and downs, starts and stops, and births and deaths of success. Like winter then, the New Year renews again our attempt to cling in vain to the ‘ups,’ ‘starts,’ and ‘births’ that are not perpetually and constantly manageable. We should, however, never relent in our attempt. Otherwise a vibrant spring will never appear. █