THE old year is put to bed. One’s business is finished. We commemorate the year past while invoking the illumination of the year’s days of authentic indulgence, simplicities, celebration and closure.
As we welcome the new year, we need to put the old year’s unfinished business—mistakes, regrets, shortcomings, disappointment and bad memories as well—behind us.
We honored the old year with a farewell toast and welcome the new year. We offered thanks, and celebrated how far we’ve come, how much we’ve learned and the glorious person we could become.
Happy New Year! It is time to conceive new dreams and plans, overcome old fears and pain, to experience freedom, discover new strengths, that, oh, so sought goal, the new aspirations, new challenges. And grow old —I shall from invisible to vibrant—older is happier.
I will make every day a favorite day of the year, fill my heart with gratitude, strive for simplicity now that the holidays are over. The child of laughter and contentment has arrived, that which rivals the hues of the peacocks and the harmonies of heaven.
It is also impossible not to think of the homeless today. And I settle some into little boxes. Thousands and thousands of years ago, another homeless family depended on strangers charity and kindness. They didn’t find any until an ordinary, harried, exhausted woman stopped long enough to feel her heart tug. Mine now tugs with guilt, that a basket and presents we’ve dropped off to a shelter, eases up the sting a bit. But I am disappointed and saddened that I didn’t, don’t, and do more. I will this year, I promised.
Sometimes, I keep them with well intentioned promise. But most of the time, real life distracts me. I don’t do enough, and both the Spirit and I know it. But it does give me a happy pause wondering whose New Year’s dreams come true.
We honored 2014 with a farewell toast and welcomed the new year within. We offered thanks, celebrated how far you’ve become, how much you’ve learned and the glorious woman you wish and could become. It is always easy to see the beginning of things, and harder to see the end. It is always harder to cut through the ambiguities and second starts, and broken resolves.
I don’t really know what I’m waiting for. I only know that until I have gained what I want from life, my expression of gratitude and joy will be restricted to a nip in the air that clarifies the scent. I’ll begin exploring the richness of seasonal soul craft, let my wind off into natural marvels, with rituals revolved around savoring, reaping, enjoyment, restoration and reflection.
I’ll glance at the sun, see the moon and star. When was the last time you star gazed? Looked up into the night sky: realized that you’ve got a friend up there, that everyday in another day to follow the clues for the New Year’s promise. Find a star tow wish upon.
Revel on relinquishment, by letting seasonally sanctioned sojourns of slow joy, by transforming not only our own lives, but the lives of those we love.
Make the pursuit of happiness real and personal. NOW.
