I have this new pair of winter boots that I bought in the summer. Uh? I know! I am a bargain hunter addict. When it comes to shoes I do not care if the pair I find is for the right season. If it fits and it is the right price, I will take it!
This is the time of the year when we all take inventory of the things we did, started, quit, abandoned, or simply tried. Sometimes I can get obsess with what I did not accomplish or did not have the courage to start.
This year though I am so grateful I had the courage to start this blog. There were times when I felt very discouraged and doubted if I should keep it up. However, I dismissed those thoughts a dozen times and published a few paragraphs of adventures and shoes I wore this 2016.

The new year is upon us and I cannot wait for snow to wear my new boots, dust off the snowshoes and hit the trails. But before ringing in the new year I need to do my balance sheet.

I believe in self reflection as a paramount strategy to move forward as an individual. I don’t like to think about myself too much but once a year I do look in the rearview mirror and ask myself what did I learn in the past 365 days?

Sometimes there is this one eureka experience or lesson. In late years it seems to be a repetition of aspects I need to keep on checking and others that I need to keep on doing…and a couple I simply need to surrender.
Here is my sixteen lessons of 2016:
1. Love is and will forever be a decision. A conscious decision to be vulnerable with others and embrace them for who they are…and to let them embrace you.
2. Forgiveness is a core habit of people who knows how to live in harmony with themselves and with others.
3. Humility is not humiliation. It is a simple way of saying “I don’t know all the answers.” It is a way of life where we value the small things as much as the big things.
4. Feelings can push me to say really unpleasant things, visualizing myself wearing duck tape over my mouth is an effective coping technique to avoid the verbal diarrhea. Repeating verses in my head while visualizing me with duct tape is 100 per cent guaranteed to deter me from loosing it.
5. Giving away shoes I no longer wear may feel as leaving behind people but it is a necessary step to take on new adventures.
6. Conflict is not a sin. It is a way to discuss vantage points that differ but are still valuable. Agreeing to disagree is a valid position at times. It can be the time out needed to rethink something or the pause that will spark a new idea. Why do we fear conflict so much?
7. I like sandals. Black sandals, high heel, wedge heel, straps, peep toes…I have too many pairs. I need to stay away from buying more black sandals.
8. Coffee is the top object used to say: I miss you!, can we get together?, “someday I will call you,” I would like to get to know you better, can you come visit?, etc. I like coffee a lot but still wonder why is hard to just say: I miss you! Let’s get together!
9. Time spent with loved ones is always worth it. ALWAYS! (Regardless of the cost, inconveniences, sacrifices, etc.)

10. Things are less and less appealing to me, except shoes. I still can drool over buying shoes.
11. Smiling wide is the best cosmetic out there.
12. Writing is an exercise of freedom I need to keep up more…even more than my physical exercise…which I don’t do enough either.
13. Serving people or your community is a habit that will bear fruits you never imagine.
14. Watching the stars on a clear night out in the woods (where I happen to live) is an astounding reminder of the Greatness of My Creator. The same One that thought of me before my parents did. Pretty mind blowing at times when my faith gets blurry.
15. Receiving is hard. It requires humility and make us vulnerable. But without having the ability to receive we are empty handed and discontent.
16. Meeting with the Cretaor is like oxygen. I choke when days go by and I don’t make time to seek Him. I bow to less chocking times in 2017.

Let me encourage you to look back on the rearview mirror. Check it and then look forward. A new year is welcoming us. A whole set of new mercies. What pairs do you want to wear this year? Which ones do you need to share? To give away?

Do Love and Shoes!

PS. This is an unedited post to make myself a bit  more vulnerable this time. THANKFUL for my editors who read and make sense of my tangled sentences and spanglish. They are key to make this blog readable.  They will be back at it in 2017! (I hope!)

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV)