New Year's Day Wisdom

New Year's day marks the start of another cycle. We constantly witness cycles in our daily lives whether its through watching the inflow and outlfow of breath, the passing of the days, the cycle of the moon or the changing of the seasons. We are constantly part of cycles and living in cycles and they remind us that part of our work is letting go into the change. In a cycle there is always a start, a building, a dying away and a beginning again. If we try to hold on to hard in a part of that cycle, wishing things wouldn't change, we create a great deal of suffering for ourselves. The best thing we can do is welcome the energy of the time of the cycle we're in. For now, we start the new year. We are in the process of releasing the past year and preparing for the new. Here are the poems I shared New Year's Day for inspiration:

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Before the Beginning
by Danna Faulds

Mystery infuses 
every phase 
of growth - 
the first green
shoot to push
its way above
the dirt, leaves
and buds, blossoms,
fruit, and seeds,
even the dried 
stalks that rattle
in the cold season - 
each stage is equally honorable.
What was present
before the beginning
will be there
after the end.

Whatever Doesn't Serve
by Danna Faulds

​What weight can you
put down right now,
willingly relinquishing
the pointed quills of
guilt or judgment?

What burden of the heart
can lift, what dark corner
can be lit, the candle
flickering at first, then
burning bright?

With the next breath,
let it go, that old story
you’ve told yourself
a million times.

Whatever doesn’t serve
you on this path of truth,
leave it behind. Offer
this one gift: the simple
sacrifice that in the giving
sets you free to fully live.

by Danna Faulds
This is what I have to say to you. Use your discontent, your longing, the sense that you are bereft of connection, use everything around you to nudge you into choosing joy. Make the choice not because life is as you wish, but because life is as it is. Resist and you know suffering. Jump in with both eyes open and you can drown in bliss.

It doesn't seem possible, I know. You feel broken, disconnected, less than whole. Ask if awareness shares your restlessness. Ask if the infinite cares that your emotional state is tenuous at best. Ask if your dreary thoughts should be believed and if anything real stands between you and All That Is. Use the answers you receive go pen a crack in the wall of separation. Find a door and stick your foot in so it can't close even if your doubts grow huge.

"I can't get there from here," you say. My reply is there is nowhere to go. You are already home. Embrace your immortal soul, the flame that cannot be doused by wind or rain. Embrace the truth of you today.