I spent yesterday reading hundreds and hundreds of birthday wishes, humbled by the incredible connections and friendships I have with so many of you that I’ve met only through my books or this blog. I’m also a little grateful I don’t have to sign a thousand Christmas cards or buy stuff for thousands of y’all. But what I can give, I will. I hope that is, in part, my presence in some form on your artistic journey this coming year: it’s the least I can do in exchange for your presence on mine. Thank you for that. But, believing there’s good in putting it out there, a little like lighting a candle in the vast velvet darkness, here is my wish for you, and for all of us, this coming year.
Let it be a year free not from fearful things but a year of courage and the strength lean to into it and breathe deep when it seems to be suffocating. May we all be people that give courage to others; we need courage and grace now more than ever, lest fear win in our hearts and rob us of who we are and all we can be.
Let it be a year of intentional living and an end to wishing for things that could be within our grasp if we just had the will and strength to risk it and reach our hands a little further. Let it be the year we learn to find joy in the grasping and the reaching for those better things, even when they remain just beyond reach.
Let it be a year of beauty in unexpected places.
Let it be a year of love extended and reciprocated. And when it’s not reciprocated, may we have hearts that aren’t so hungry that we can’t still extend that love.
Let it be a year of forgiveness and mercy and the joy that comes from loosing old chains.
Let it be a year of inspiration created and not merely waited for.
Let it be the year we open the wine we’ve been saving for a special occasion, and the wisdom to know that any day can be special when we open that wine – metaphorically or otherwise.
Let it be a year when the loss of daily life brings us to honest tears but never to our knees; may you never give up.
Let it be a year of beautiful light and finding joy and mystery in the shadows.
Let it be a year of renewed curiosity. There is so much to see and experience in this life. May your days be full to busting.
Let it be a year with more friends and less Facebook. More loving and less liking. More long walks and mad love-making. More art and less artifice.
Let it be a year of compassion. To others. To this planet. To future generations. To the creatures with whom we share this blue world. And to do this, may we learn to extend that compassion to ourselves.
And let it be a year of joy in seeing the world and the moments around us, knowing that the brevity of life makes those moments all the more precious. We have this brief, astonishing, beautiful, life, let it be full and honest. May you look back with gratitude and forward with hope, and live right here, in this moment, with both.
Happy New Year, my friends.
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I have enjoyed reading this many times and return to it yearly to reflect. Beautifully written. Thank you.
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That was beautiful prose. Thank you !! Wishing all if the same for you and Cynthia!! ??
Thank you David, for bringing light and Light!
Happy New Year David! First, the image above is beautiful! I love the minimalism, but also the touch of color in the sky and trees! Second, thanks for not only being constant source of photographic inspiration, but also for being a friend when I needed one. It’s nice knowing you’re out there and will not only respond, but respond in a caring, friendly manner! Lastly, thanks for the New Year’s well wishes! Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year!
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So beautiful!
May your year be free of accidents (no more falling off walls!) and be full of happy memories! Thank you for your inspiring words. I will take them with me to plough through 2016 and beyond!
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David a Belated Happy Birthday and very Merry Christmas to You and Yours..Thanks so much for such a wonderful post.Great and inspiring Photography as always from a Good Man..You’ve got both bases covered Buddy!!..Mike DuPonte
Thank you for that. All the best to you and yours David!
Thank you, David. Happy New Year!
“And when the night is cloudy
There is still a light that shines on me
Shine on until tomorrow, let it be …”
Happy New Year to you and yours David, I’m grateful for your presence and will amplify my own in 2016.
Thank you for these incredibly inspiring words David! It’s a message to live by. Happy holidays and all the best in the new year!
All the best for 2016 and looking forward to reading more of your writing in the new year!
Thank you David for you inspirational words which I am sure I will revisit many times during the coming year as we face the joy and despair which life inevitably brings.
Very best wishes for 2016 x
Great words to be used and remembered through the next year. I wish you David a wonderful and lightful 2016!
Your every word goes straight to my heart, thank you. Best wishes for 2016 to you and all the people who helped you become who you are.
I will definitely take these words with me as we bull rush towards 2016. The first two are especially meaningful for me as I try to figure out a way to take my photography to the next level both artistically and in business. Thank you so much for what you do. You’re awesome. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well.
Amen! It’s all I can say because it leaves me sppechless…
And a very happy, belated, birthday!
Happy birthday and Happy New Year to you too David, may we all hear more of your wonderful affirmations and heart lifting advice in 2016, always truthful, always intending to give hope and confidence, always glass half full, always valuable.
You’re a gem.
Silva
Thank you, always, for your poetic and inspiring words.
Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas to you David. Thank you so much for your ‘well wishes’ and inspiration!!
A belated happy birthday, a Merry Christmas & a happy & healthy New Year to you as well David. Thank you for all that you have given to us!
Well said…Merry Christmas to you and yours and a belated happy birthday as well!
Happy New Year, too, David! And thank you for all the wonderful, beautiful images and words that you grace all of us with. I hope that our paths can cross in the not-too-distant future.