New Year
A brand New notebook Pages lined An invitation To mark with ink New memories, new ideas New hopes, new dreams A time to assess and select What to carry-over What to leave behind What will make the cut In this revision In this redesign This brand New You This brand New Year Never before lived Yet seen a million times over
Today, as I write this, it is a new day in a new year. My New Year Eve/Day ritual has always been to create an altar lined with white cloth, a white candle, and white flowers to symbolize the purity and newness. It’s my invitation and offering to the newness and unknown. Then I start the process of throwing out old things and decluttering. The intent is to clear out and simplify more so than to make room for new. I don’t know about you, but as a creative person I seem to collect things that I find beauty in, rocks, sticks, shells, old furniture, plants in need of care. So, every year it seems a good opportunity to rid myself of the things that are no longer purposeful to me anymore. The things that have faded in beauty and are now ready to be passed on.
I suppose this process is something we all seem to do naturally. Just the idea of new year forces us to reflect upon the past year to see where we are both emotionally and spiritually, and how it has influenced us. We then envision the new year that we want to create. What accomplishments do we want to achieve, what dreams do we want to fulfill, what direction do we want to take?
This brings me to resolutions. Over the past few years, I have become less and less of a fan of New Year’s resolutions. In the past I have felt pressure to carefully make one that I can commit to. However, failure to live up to the commitment leaves me feeling disappointed with myself. What is the point in that? This year I have decided to make a New Year’s agreement instead. I think of an agreement as more of a give and take, a meeting in the middle. It does not have to be resolute; it will be a work in progress. My agreement is twofold. First off, I agree to be nicer with myself. If I am nicer to myself, I can be nicer to others. Secondly, I agree to remind myself that simpler is often better. Why overcomplicate life when it is complex enough as it is?
What will your New Year’s agreement be?