New Year, New Beginnings
abracad, · Categories: christmas, spiritualityTime flies. I can hardly believe another year has almost passed and a new one is upon us.
New Year is closely linked (in both temporal proximity and symbolic meaning) with the Winter solstice and Christmas, ie the passing of the shortest day and the (re-)birth of the Sun (Son).
Traditionally this is a time to reflect on what has gone as well as making resolutions for the brand new year ahead. It is rightly a time to celebrate. Surviving another year on the roller coaster of life is achievement in itself and a milestone worth marking.
Reviewing the past twelve months - in personal and global terms - obviously invokes different emotions in different people. For some it has brought wonderful success, for others heartbreaking disaster. Perhaps for most any review includes both ups and downs.
Kipling said: "if you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same" ... "yours is the Earth and everything that's in it". For good and bad, ecstasy and despair, are but two sides of the same coins. What counts is what we can draw the lessons of experience, for this hard-earned knowledge is what truly maketh the person and is the ultimate purpose of life.
Hopefully you will have had at least as many ups and downs, but even if not the fact that you are reading this means your place is still in this world, there is still work to be done, adventures to be had, lessons to be learned. Which leads us to our second theme - new beginnings.
It is customary at New Year to make resolutions. Often these are made hastily and lightly about quitting smoking, losing weight, getting more exercise etc etc. And just as hastily and lightly broken. It's but a small proportion that outlives January.
But New Year really is a new blank page in the book of life. So just for once let's think a little harder and resolve to do something that is both meaningful and likely to last. Many people get a break from work over the Holiday season. Use it to consider where you're heading, where you'd truly like to be headed, and what changes you need to make.
Think big. Aiming high always produces greater results than setting your sights too low - even if you don't quite reach your personal summit. But also give yourself a chance to taste the satisfaction of success, eg by setting milestones along the way. Keep yourself heartened by allowing yourself a little treat for a milestone reached.
And so to Spring, the next review, when the seeds sowed now begin to come to life.
Happy New Year
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