Happy New Year.
Think of today as the first day of the rest of your life.
As I said in my last note, I am committed to prove the best is yet to come and I am beginning this year with an extraordinary experience. I will be leaving tomorrow for a cruise to Southeast Asia with my oldest daughter, Samara (she’s a sophomore at NYU). We are going to Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Hong Kong – all new places for me.
I will try to keep my expectations moderate, but I relish the idea of getting to know the young woman my little girl has become while I wasn’t looking.
I hope you will make a special effort this year to do something significant, something that you haven’t done before. I’ve come to appreciate that I have a full museum of memories that goes wherever I go and is available to me at any time of the day or night.
There is something to be learned from occasional visits to the darker rooms housing sad but significant memories, but I am resolved to spend most of my time re-exploring and re-experiencing the vast number of rooms housing extraordinary moments of achievement, joy and awe.
I don’t have the patience to be systematic enough to really do it, but I’m sure I could spend the bulk of my waking hours organizing all the things I have to be grateful for. When I allow myself to wander in the sunlit rooms of good and grand memories I discover forgotten precious treasures that deserve to be displayed more prominently.
And the beautiful thing is that there is no limit to the size and number of good memory rooms. I expect to add a new wing on this trip with Samara.
I hope you will spend more time and emotional energy improving your own Good Memory Museum by exploring your past and building for the future.
Don’t let life happen to you, make life happen.
Best and warmest wishes,
Michael