February. For those of us who are living with piles of snow and ice right now, you may feel a bit like writer Tom Robbins: "February is as useless as the extra r in its name. It behaves like an obstacle, a wedge of slush and mud and ennui holding both progress and contentment at bay."
For others, like me, the second month of the year is an opportunity to maintain my intentions and to get in touch with three of the guiding principles for success in career, life, love, friendship and being true to one's self.
The first is humility: taking an honest assessment of who and what I am today. I acknowledge both strengths and limitations
based upon the totality of what I’ve experienced throughout my life.
The second is empathy: trying to understand how someone else may be feeling during a challenging time or under various circumstances. I find that it helps to keep the old adage you never know what someone else is going through, in your mind and in your heart--whenever it is possible.
The third is compassion: which I think of as a willingness to allow someone else to have the right to be wrong and to do our best to view other people's choices or situation through a lens of kindness and understanding.
So whether February is about love, renewal, and embracing the coming year or whether you see February as "spread between January and March like lard on bread," it is at least the shortest month, so focus, breathe
and look forward to what comes next.
