CHOOSING A DIRECTION

"Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings." 

~ CD Jackson ~

Lots of people don't want any part of New Year's resolutions, and I understand that, but I do still think we need goals to work towards. Without purpose, our lives lack interest and passion. Without purpose, we are just idling along, maintaining a status quo that is questionable at best. If nothing changes, then nothing changes, and that can go on for years and years.
     Let's establish a direction instead, and get moving. We may not get where we're headed exactly as we envision it, but at least we will have something to aim for.

I give my life meaning by establishing a personal purpose.

CONTROL FREAK

"As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit." 

~ Emmanuel ~

I can be a bit of a control freak. I like things a certain way and when my sense of rightness is interfered with, my first response is distress.  I want things to be the way I want them to be, and when they're not, I feel irked.
     But there's another response, a better one that gives me more peace. It's neutrality. Things are only good or bad because I label them that way. I define my reality. I determine what's satisfying or annoying by the way I think about it. And at any point, in any direction, I can raise my awareness and change my direction of thought.

I stop fighting things beyond my control and let them be what they are.

EARLY MORNING

"Up at dawn, the dewy freshness of the hour, the morning rapture of the birds, the daily miracle of sunrise, set her heart in tune, and gave her Nature's most healing balm." 

~ Louisa May Alcott ~

There are unquestionable advantages to early rising. Morning sun shining on hard frosted grass sparkles like diamonds, and an hour later, it's all melted and gone.

I rise early and relish the day.

FINDING OURSELVES

"One's action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be a mere rushing on." 

~ DH Lawrence ~

It's easy to get lost to ourselves through addictive behaviors, ambition, obsession, over-responsibility, busy-ness, lust for power, resentment, and the myriad demands of our insatiable ego. To find ourselves again we have to stop and recover through stillness- through listening and sitting and self-reflection. We forget so easily what matters and what we are all about. We enslave ourselves to the tyranny of the urgent.
     Let's not. Let's wake up fresh and start anew; mindfully, courageously, and with our hearts full of love.

I commit to stillness so that I can experience peace.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"Be at peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a better man." 

~ Ben Franklin ~

Make this year count,

Live free from doubt,

Be clear,

Have no fear,

Steer right,

Keep your dreams in sight,

And excite and delight in your life!

I establish my direction for a year of appreciation and personal growth.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

"A life without cause is a life without effect." 

~Barbarella ~

There's a way to approach the New Year that has nothing to do with alcohol, fireworks, or crowds of people. It's quietly and intentionally- a cleansing and a releasing rather than a frenzy. The last four years or so, we have started a New Year's Eve bonfire tradition that fits the bill. We sit in the dark country night and watch sparks float skyward, listen to the burning logs snap and pop, and think about what we are done with- what has passed, and where we need to stop holding on.
     At midnight, thanks to smart phones, we listen to a Celtic version of Auld Lang Syne and let the sound and the emotion of it sink deep within us, or rise up to our throats as the case may be. In this way, I have learned to love New Year's Eve. It is full of sweet and sad memory, self-reflection, promise, and endless hope.

I let go of what no longer serves me, and prepare to welcome the New Year.

GOOD LIVING

"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us." 

~Hal Borland ~

Living clean is good living. There are no hidden trails, no dark secrets, no guilt, no shame, and no remorse. Everything happens above ground and in the light. It's not the way I've always lived, but it's the way I live now.
     I've had my share of seedy situations and questionable circumstances, so I know where that path leads me, and it's nowhere I want to go. We have choices in life, and I've made mine both ways across the years. I've tried to get away with things. I've tried sick relationships, dysfunctional behaviors across the board, and self-sabotage at every turn. But living with clear purpose, pure intention, and love to the core sure feels better, so that's my choice today, tomorrow, and going forth. I choose it with courage, and the willingness to step up and do my part whatever that may mean on any given day, and no matter what it takes.

I live clean and clear and in the light.