Finding the Rhythm of a New Year

Never before had I looked forward to a new beginning as much as the day when we would turn the calendar to January 1, 2012. Everything in my life was tested over the past year as I lived through a storm of change. Despite the anticipation of a brighter horizon, all I could see clearly was the devastation and all that I had lost. Darkness, loneliness, and fear crippled me.

Finally I awoke in the clear dawn of this New Year to find I had the power to see all that I have gained. What remains in my life has the strength to withstand any metaphorical tsunami, earthquake, or hurricane that crosses my path. My fingernails may be bitten, but inside, in the deepest parts of myself, I am ready, optimistic, and excited for what lies ahead.

I will take risks, be courageous, and let my life and its adventures unfold as they will. I will be an active student, paying close attention to the teachers who surround me and to my own inner compass, to receive the education and reap the growth possible. I will celebrate my victories, big and small, as I find a new rhythm in 2012.

Join me, my friends. Let’s seize this opportunity to start anew, to be intentional and find resolution, because the world awaits, as John O’Donahue writes in his poem, “Blessings for a New Beginning.”  This is my New Year’s resolution.

 

Blessing for a New Beginning

 In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

Noticing how you willed yourself on,

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety

And the gray promises that sameness whispered,

Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,

Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plentitude opening before you. 

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

 –John O’Donahue