New Beginnings
I began naming my years three years ago. Every January 1, I would concoct a name that would set an intention. I didn’t try to contrive a “good one”. I tried to be simple and accept the name that simply came and would not leave my mind.
The name for 2010 was “Mysterious Ways ”. That was the year that I learned of 109 people living in a rest area we were managing, and had to find a humane solution to move them away. Ten magical people joined together, collaborated on a plan, and by May 1 they were well on their way to new lives. To date, most are in homes and are addiction free. One works for my organization. I ended the year with a sense of wonder and gratitude to be part of such an amazing happening.
In 2011, my yearly name was “Speak Truth to Power”. I read a treatise written by Quaker women who challenged national leaders to see the consequences of their policies to the poor and weak. In 2011, Occupy Wall Street sprang forth the beginning of a consciousness that I do not feel will quietly go away. In my own life, I learned to confront the “power people” in my own life and stand in my truth, regardless of the political or possible financial consequences.
Having a yearly name has been wonderfully inspiring. This bird’s eye view intention drives and gives meaning to yearly events long after I’ve forgotten the name I ascribed on January 1. It is important that I begin to be clearer in my intentions because I’m finding them quite powerful!
To prepare for this year I’ve taken the advice of another columnist and made three lists.
I’ve listed those things that have not served my highest good and that I’m willing to release. Some of those items will be very hard to realize, since they have been the “go to” remedy for anxiety. Some items involve people who don’t uplift, but rather bog me down with their demands. Their hold on me does not come from a healthy place. Some items involve the caches of things from the past that I’ve always thought of as memorabilia, but now see them as clutter.
I’ve listed those things that I’ve learned from those items in the first list to find that blessing or new awareness.
Then I’ve listed the new life I want. It includes some very ambitious goals. It includes the manifested changes made to discard those items in the first list. Most of those items that make up the new life require change, a diversion from the way I’ve always acted and reacted. They are good goals. I believe in them. Its time I put the finishing touches on the life I came here to lead with gusto.
I want to teach spiritual principles, so I have to forget negative past experiences and I especially have to not anticipate future failure.
I have to stop turning to foods that do not nourish me when I’m remembering a particularly difficult event of the day, or worrying about an upcoming event that I may not be able to handle.
I have to stop dwelling on a past issue that I regret, allowing that sadness or pain to consume me rather than being openly alive in the present.
In other words, I have to listen to my body and my intuition and begin to live in the now. To do that, I need to learn to trust in that amazing energy that flows through all of us and provides ways to heal and enliven. That energy comes from outer signs and messages, and inner wisdom that lies buried beneath all that worry and analysis. It is ready to allow me to rest in that “cosmic soup” that flows through the massive and infinite Universe just as well as within the branches and buds of the Daphne bushes outside my window.
When I let go of the analysis of past unresolved events or the fearful anticipation of what could happen beyond my control I open. It is then that I realize that I only need to breathe and rest in the energy that is there to support me. I breathe in my gratefulness and welcoming of that Love. When I breathe out, I rest in the arms of the Mother, the Father, and the All That Is. I stand on the earth and ground myself and I raise my arms to the unending Wisdom that fills the atmosphere. I listen to my intuitive self, which is the Self that does not have the ego clutter of control needs and a poor skill set from fear based habits. I am ready to see things a different way. I am ready to trust in more than my own limited skill set.
My right to this amazing connection is simply that I was born and I am a soul among many souls that are directly linked to this canopy of Love.
Every time I remember this, circumstances change in a way that humbles and delights.
Its time I make it a daily practice, not an emergency back up system.
My name for you, 2012, is:
I am. You Are! Bring it on!
