Happy New Year

MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING YOU ALL THAT YOU DESIRE

A dear friend sent this to me as a way of reflecting on his life, the new year and how to resolve his relationship to resolutions.  It perfectly matched what I was experiencing in that moment, that I had to share.  Coincidence and serendipity trumpeting so loudly should not be ignored.

For the first time in my life, this holiday season has eluded me entirely.  No part of me was swept away by the festive spirit or awash in personal reflection.  Don’t get me wrong, there was no “Bah Humbug”  attempts to steal Christmas so that my misery could be felt by all of the joyful carolers of my village.  There was no misery.  There was just no real connection.

While on our vacation to South Africa, it dawned on me.  What I was experiencing was complacency.  I was experiencing a sense that nothing – no resolutions, no actions and no hoping was going to change anything.  I was resolved only in that there are no signs, feelings or premonition will point to a desired future.  There simply was nothing to latch onto that once provided great solace and inspiration.

I simply knew that I was a stand that my year ahead would supply me with an experience of joy, inspiration and personal fulfillment.  I just didn’t know how.

And then I got the blog post below.  It awakened in me a call to action. Not a single action; not even a series of actions, but an access to action.  I was present to a way of being that simply called out for consciousness such that I was pulled toward that which would align with who I am.  There was nothing to plan, or prepare or even resolve.  All I had to do was declare that who I am is a “joyful, inspired  loving and fulfilled” person and create my day from there.

So to borrow from Christiane Wolfe:

What Do You Really Want?

During the last week of December, I reflect back on the past year, up until the last minutes when my husband and I recall the year together. We remember big and small moments, the happy and the not so happy ones. And then we look forward. What might be coming in the year ahead? What promises, challenges, hurdles?

Although I’ve never liked New Year’s resolutions, I do ask, what kind of feelings do I want more in my life? What do I really want?

Teaching mindfulness, we often ask this question the way you drop a pebble into a well: There is a first splash, but then as we repeat the question, other answers may come – deeper, more nuanced ones.

What I have come to understand more over the years is that we wish for certain things or achievements for the feeling we believe it will give us. Once you know what the feeling is, you can look for other ways to find it, maybe even right now. If you wish for peacefulness, you can think about what could make you feel more peaceful… right now.

Many roads lead to Rome. There is more than one way to feel more peaceful, more joyful or more at ease in your life.

So, what do you really want? What feeling are you after when you seek that relationship, that job, that weight, that gadget? Where else in your life might there be a taste of that?

Let your mind and heart roam wild. You’ll be surprised how often you’ll find that what you yearn for is right at your fingertips.

I wish us all a blessed year 2013.

Tags: Happy New Year, New Year, Resolutions