Friday, December 31st, 2010 09:56:42

Creating Our Nation’s Future — No More Bread and Circuses

The start of a new year, a new decade no less, should be marked by a pause in our daily lives. Time to get rid of what is dragging us down and to focus on what is working in our lives. While others are gnashing their teeth at the year they are leaving behind — the decade that they are getting rid of (naughty aughties, anyone?), a few of us are optimistically anticipating the year and the decade to come.

The best way to get over a bad event is to “look suffering straight in the eye, acknowledge and respect its presence,” according to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, (“Finding Flow,” Basic Books, 1997), “and then to get busy as soon as possible focusing on things we choose to focus on.”