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Literary Lights

Priscilla Fagan

A Season of Change

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain." Maya Angelou

When I read this, I heard my mother; Stop complaining and do something.  I have to admit there are some things I just can’t change, however  I can change my attitude and I can make hard decisions . . .well, it might not be easy but I keep telling myself, change is good.

"Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future." John Fitzgerald Kennedy

If your future is writing and it’s just not happening, try looking inside yourself. What is it I need to do? Do I need to stop clinging to the past, the present, that safety net? Stay with the status quo? After all, it’s familiar. Why am I discontent? Perhaps it’s because I need to change, and that wise creative child is screaming at me to do something, anything, for heaven’s sake. Just stop complaining about the way things are and start something new, or go back to the future.  I haven’t written in months, maybe more. Frustration leads to anger and anger without action is a waste of energy. Julia Cameron tells us, “Anger is meant to be acted upon. It is not meant to be acted out. Anger points the direction . . .Anger is the firestorm that signals the death of our old life.”

Although I changed my attitude and faced a big decision, I have returned to a friend, Literary Lights, and in doing so have refocused on the future and my writing.

George Bernard Shaw wrote, "Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." Isn’t this also called a woman’s prerogative? Regardless, change is the way of life. Yes, change can be unsettling, it can even be bad, but if we look at change as a new beginning . . . well, that is exciting. Stop complaining and get on with it.

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." Alexander Graham Bell

Change your attitude; look at your world from a different perspective, and with that said, I am once again the eternal optimist.

Priscilla