New Year or New Day

Over the years in our society, like many of our ancient traditions, we have lost the origins of New Years. A time to celebrate the new moon and the day of equal sunlight and darkness. To welcome the rebirth of the natural world. A beautiful celebration of remembering our roots and giving thanks to the land. In our celebrations now, we have turned the focus towards ourselves and our personal lives. Blaming life for what’s been happening to us and judging ourselves. We put so much hope and belief that like a fairytale, at the stroke of midnight, when the fireworks illuminate the sky, something magical is going to happen. POOF! All that has taken place in the previous year, all that we’ve experienced and done will magically be erased. We will begin the New Year with a clean slate, where all is forgotten and anything is possible. All the hopes we’ve had and the dreams we’ve imagined will come true.

How often have we ourselves said

“I'm so glad this year is over”

“I can’t wait for next year.”

“This year will be better.”

But has this magic moment ever actually happened? To anyone, anywhere? Then why do we continue, year after year, to choose to believe that after this one night our entire lives will be transformed. And if it was true, that this night is the defining moment between what we were and who we will be, why do we so often choose to spend it intoxicated, in poor company or engaging in something we really don’t enjoy? Is this really the best way to welcome our new lives! To give birth to a new self and way of being?

This past New Years Eve, I spent the day in contemplation, alone and fasting. Allowing everything within me to become emptied and considering what I have done, how I did it, and what experiences left the deepest impact. Reflecting on my natural inner light and dark. Not just considering what didn’t go well but also remembering the joys and pleasures.

And from this experience I realised, life isn’t happening to us. It’s not about what we achieve, achievements are short lived and then another one comes to take its place. Life is happening through us and what matters most is the experiences we have and what we become as a result of them. Regardless of what some may try to lead us to believe, there is no one keeping score or grading us. There is no test to pass and no one to prove anything to. We can’t get life wrong!

From this realisation, I decided,

“Why do we need to wait for this one day a year to make a resolution and decide, now I”m going to start to participate in life.”

“This year, things are going to change and be different.”

Each day is its own tiny life with a beginning, middle and end. We are born in the morning, we live and we die. So every day we have another opportunity to fill a new blank page. So instead of going to bed and judging ourselves for not accomplishing our goals, why don’t we celebrate with gratitude all the experiences we did have and all we learned from it? The joys we felt, the sorrows we survived and the moments we shared. And why not wake each morning filled with hope for all the possibilities and opportunities that await? Opening our eyes not wishing we had a few more minutes of sleep, but smiling and thinking,”Hooray it’s today, and I’m here again!” Life is giving me another chance to be a part of this grand and mysterious unfolding. All that I do matters in some way, I have a role to play.

So I propose a change, from New Year to New Day. We wake each day and do the best we can with what is unfolding around us. We become active participants in life and find joy and meaning in every moment. It won’t always be easy, there are no straight lines or guidebooks to follow. It will seem at times overwhelming to change what we’ve constructed as important for the last several years. So often we make a resolve to change our way but fail because of old habits that arise. But that’s ok! Let life be the wind that shakes up your old and tangled roots and rise up to meet the challenges with the full force of the life within you. The force that has been waiting, all this time to be seen and be heard. Don’t try to understand what’s happening, or make sense of the unexplainable, just experience it.

See the extraordinary in the ordinary. And choose to spend it in great company, doing the things YOU love! Expressing yourself the way YOU want, intoxicated by the unknown, always changing natural world taking place around you. Our lives are unrepeatable and most things are beyond our control, so today, with the things that are within your control, make a resolution to choose your own adventure and move fearlessly through it!