Thank goodness for the ability to begin again. We can make a big U-turn when we’ve taken the wrong road, or we can take stitches off the needle and unravel the mistake, or we can re-write the blog when we realize it’s no bueno. The ability to begin again provides the freedom to confidently venture forward knowing that we can make changes and start anew. We can strive for satisfaction.. Sorry, Mick.
Traditions at the start of the New Year center around beginning again. We enthusiastically make New Year’s Resolutions, our lists of “to-do’s” and “not-to-do’s”. I find it invigorating and hopeful, like looking into the sky during sunrise. I start dreaming about it as the year ends, creating new lists of ideas, new podcasts to follow, new books to read, new classes to take … yada yada yada. Like a big inhale, I fill up, energize and prepare to launch forward on a new path to the Land Of Joy.
First we must make space for all the newness. As we embark on the next year’s calendar, we can reflect on what hasn’t worked during the last year. What patterns have become stale? What routines could use a new direction? We need to scrape the old paint off to prepare for a new layer of fresh color; tend to the soil before we plant the seeds. This process is not always easy. We often become attached to our ways and change seems uncomfortable, even when we know it’s needed. The New Year helps us address the topic of change.
“Beginning again is a powerful form of resilience training”, says Sharon Salzberg, a meditation master and one of my teachers.. Meditation helps strengthen our minds to be able to continually start over. As we sit in meditation, we are undoubtedly confronted with our thoughts. Ultimately, we are interested in the space between the thoughts, but in order to experience that space, we must wade through the debris, like navigating the kelp in a kelp bed. Slowly, we clear the kelp and we can swim through the water with ease. The clearing is the process of meditation: seeing the thoughts, and slowly moving them aside to see things more clearly.
As we move our thoughts aside, we keep returning to a new breath. Meditation is the act of beginning again over and over. Like reps with a hand weight, returning to the breath increases our awareness and strengthens the meditation. Sharon reminds us, “Each time we become distracted or lost in our judgments, assumptions, and other thoughts, we can return to the moment, the most portable and dependable resource at our disposal. We see that no matter what, we can always begin again.” Happy Beginning of 2021. Let’s do this!