Begin Again

There is something I find remarkable about tonight, New Year's Eve.  The world keeps spinning at the same speed, the oceans continue their ebb and flow, and nature marches on without notice.  Yet tonight, the entire world's population of human beings seem to take a breath, a pause, a sidestep perhaps to reflect, to close.  Not all of us celebrate, but all of us begin again.  Tomorrow.

I go back and forth about new year's resolutions.  It's impractical to wait until the new year to change something that needs changing within myself, and it's trendy to create a resolution I might not have invented otherwise just because it's January 1st and everyone else is doing it.  That said, I wholeheartedly love standing beneath the sunrise of each new year.  I lean into the horizon in anticipation and adventure of what possibilities might find their way to me, what dreams I might pursue, what enlightenment may arise with persistent effort. 

I love marking time with where I am, where I once was, and where I might be.  I love thumbing through my best chapters in the here and now, dog earing each page as if to punctuate it's presence with significance.  Then, with gentle forgiving, I note what no longer serves me, tempted to tear it clear from my bindings, but resolving instead to just let it be as it was written.  No matter, at each new year, good chapter or not so good, I feel inspired to turn to a fresh page and keep writing.

I love the beginning of each ride round this carousel.  Even though each dark, cold January only leads round to yet another dark, cold January, the former is never the same as the latter.  The cycle round treads the same path at the same speed, but the scenery, the music, the experience is always different; and that somehow always makes every January 1st feel like the start of an adventure to me.  It's a new page, a breath, a pause in my incessant step to start the same ride over again and see what I can see new.

My girls will grow one year older this coming year. Life will continue to touch them, amaze them and delight them with discovery, I'm sure of it.  My heart will continue to burst at it's seams with love for them, this I know, but the rest is up for discovery and exploration.


I'm welcoming 2011 with open arms.  Odd numbered years have trended towards shiny and bright on my timeline, so I can only hope to have my room filled with light before 2011 is said and done.

Happy New Year.  May yours be filled with love, which is, in turn, our brightest light.