Delayed new year’s post…

In this time of New Year’s resolutions and personal industry, I am taking advantage of the first snowstorm of 2017 to take things down a notch.

A perfectly timed storm, leaving space on the Saturday morning for exercise and last minute grocery shopping before the bulk of the light snow came drifting down, and we were able to move our dinner plans to next Saturday. This opened space for an afternoon of projects (the kind that take four years and a half hour to complete) and the leisure and joy of preparing food for our friends’ annual Epiphany party.

People are asking about intentions for the New Year, what changes and shifts have risen to the surface to establish priority on the grand To Do list of the year. I support this notion, despite Mark Twain’s declaration that this week’s New Year’s Resolutions will be used next week to pave the path to hell. It is important to live with intention; without a sense and description of what that means to someone personally, it is easy for life to ooze by without ticking off even the top items on the bucket list.

However, in order to establish even a preliminary idea of what is most important to achieve in life, there has to be some quiet time, some space to allow in the scope of possibility, let alone which of those possibilities are fitting for a particular person at a specific time in the continuum of the lifespan. And the ideal time for reflection is now, in this time when light is shortest, and it takes the most effort to be out in the elements. So have we set ourselves up by choosing the most inwardly spacious time to set immediate outward goals?

I’ve realized how much courage it takes to be still. I enjoy being busy, as many people do. I’m fairly organized, so generally feel like I can make good use of my time, but it is more challenging to let time drift. It is only in the leaning into the mystery that true answers emerge. They are there within, but we must open the window to beckon them forth. They cannot be forced, but slip out when we are looking the other way, and take shape only when we return our gaze upon them.

Our current rescue dogs are also a lesson in patience combined with diligent and intentional setting of messages. There is no rushing them. When they are fearful, we cannot demand that they stop being afraid and simply come and be scratched behind the ears.The rapport must come as we make the time to spend together, and keep the promise of walking regularly, and keeping their food bowls filled.

So, too, our psyches are willing to part with what often lies dormant while we work, watch TV or check our Facebook feed. I know this to be true, and yet I still find it challenging to ensure that my day involves time for the avenue to be swept clean so that my deepest utterances may make an appearance.

What am I afraid of? Surely there is nothing there that cannot be spoken. It is alway my choice to act upon what I see or believe.

In this year of 2017, I am asking myself to do less, so that when the important and surprising newness comes a calling, I am ready to let it in and act upon it should I so desire.