For me, as for everyone reading this, it’s been a challenging year.

I’ve worked hard all year to develop enough spiritual depth to retain my perspective and humanity and peace of mind, all of which have been challenged or threatened almost daily.

I’ve learned a lot. Most days I succeed in staying even, some days it’s a struggle. It’s easy to lose my spiritual striving. Listening to the impeachment “debate” was one of those challenges.

Even the capital attack did not unite us. It’s important to know. I have to keep working to be the person I want to be. There are four things that are real: faith, love,  human folly, and laughter.

The first three. I sometimes have to make do with the fourth.

“In the depths of winter,” wrote Albert Camus, “I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”

I couldn’t discover summer on my bike, I got it too late for that. But every day the sun blazes bright and warms my face. Maria can do that, so can Zinnia, who means to connect with me even when we both are in sleep.

Zinnia always seeks to rest while touching a part of me. Her love passes through me and warms my spirit. Light is more powerful than darkness, warmer than the cold.

Often, I turn to solitude. Solitude does not necessarily mean being alone or being apart from others. It means never living apart from oneself.j I need to be fully present within myself, which I am learning to do.

Hard and dark days challenge me to do this work. The challenges and contradictions and fears in our lives are engines of creativity. Unease and discontent trigger and animates our growth.

What is wrong with the world encourages each one of us to make something better. Look for love in all of the right places and practice it with a vengeance.

In the meantime, sleep next to a dog.