Entering A New Year

The transition period from one year to the next always gives us an opportunity to reflect on the years that have gone by. I find that many memories begin to percolate through the filter of my mind as I think about some of the lessons I’ve learned, the friendships I’ve been blessed with, the people I love, and those I’ve lost, and all the various experiences that have brought me to this day, sitting in this present moment.

It is a time of year when we can look back and be grateful for all those people, places, and things that have enriched our lives, and realize that our journey has been exactly the way it needed to be both for our growth and for our pruning. Some days it may seem like a bit of a mystery as to how we end up where we are, and sometimes it feels like we haven’t moved any steps further ahead at all. The end of the year is a good time to look back and see just how far we’ve come, to celebrate our victories and learn from our defeats.

This is also a time of year when I like to refocus my thoughts. To set an intention for the year ahead, reaffirm what is most important to me, and give thanks for what has yet to come. Part of this process is identifying and releasing old ideas and negative patterns of thinking. These are the limiting thoughts that work only to hold us back or put obstacles in our path. If we are to fully embrace what is to come, and be receptive to the new, then we must also be willing to let go of the past, open our hearts to the possibility of something completely unexpected; live and let live.

Swami Vivekananda says, “We are what our thoughts have made us, so take care of what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live, they travel far.”

So as we enter 2009, let us take some time to think and then write down our intentions for the year to come, as well as our goals, hopes, dreams, and wishes... let our thoughts live - let them travel far.

Let’s take a few minutes to concentrate on an image of the kind of person we want to be, and the type of world we want to create and live in. Let’s turn our minds to the positive, be happy for the joyous, and compassionate to the suffering, and most of all, let us love one another truly and deeply, for only then can we begin to experience the Infinite and come to recognize the face God.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!