A New Year Full of Things That Have Never Been

Another year is about to dawn, one that will surely bring unanticipated joys and difficulties both. We would do well to pause for a few moments to reflect on how we'd like to greet these unknowns as we step over the threshold into 2009.

Setting such an intention is at the heart of the age-old tradition of making New Year's resolutions. While this ritual may have fallen a bit out of vogue lately, I've always been struck by the spirit it embodies. Something inside us utters a resounding “Yes!” whenever an opportunity to move forward is glimpsed. The blank slate of a fresh year, a new beginning, just seems to invigorate all that is waiting and ready to burst forth from within.

I love that! Undeveloped pieces of soul ever seeking opportunities to bloom.

Of course, we can ignore such impulses due to the belief that we don't deserve good things or out of fear that we will let ourselves down once more. We could choose to simply carry on as before, ignoring our spirit's nascent urgings. But with a bit of encouragement, permission, and trust in our own ability to grow, we can step forward with anticipation and purpose.

Perhaps you long for creative expression, social connection, a healthier body, or a more vibrant spiritual life. Maybe a new career path beckons, or you yearn for a more light-hearted approach to your days. Or you might feel no specific call at all, just a desire to cultivate curiosity and greet whatever comes with openness and a willingness to be changed.

Whatever it might be, how can that impulse be midwifed into vibrancy? By employing the same natural laws that govern all new growth, no matter its form.

• Begin with a viable seed, since intentions which are not clearly articulated have a lesser chance of coming to fruition. 
• Devise a realistic strategy, employing knowledge of your personal strengths, quirks, and potential downfalls. 
• Pull in appropriate resources to meet your goal, setting in place supportive others and opportunities that will assist your aspirations in coming to fruition. 
• Tend to the new growth, checking in frequently, noting progress and addressing roadblocks; this step is perhaps most important as new growth is a tender thing indeed, and can be trampled under the foot of busy life.
• Modify as needed, recognizing that your resolution may very well grow beyond what you originally intended, shifting in unanticipated ways.

According to the Talmud, “Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, “Grow, grow.'” In 2009, you could be the angel to your own tender shoots, loving and encouraging them to thrive.

In addition, enacting a clearly articulated intention could be your personal offering to the new year. We all know that the best gifts are the ones we make ourselves, and the best of those come when we give of ourselves

In 2009, we could give our best. We could resist settling for a humdrum existence, and refuse to deny the promise of what we could be. We could live true to the gift that this life gives us~~the ability to become the being we are already at our core.

And with that intention, as the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke put it so simply, “Let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.”

I hope it is a year in which you each move closer to being the being you already are!

Namaste,

Loanne Marie