Happy New Year to me

I had the full moon with me as I walked this morning. It's a gift usually reserved for the night time, but this morning, it watched over the sunrise from high in the sky, and over me during my walk. Since childhood the full moon has been a special friend – I believe it watches over me. It reminds me of the majesty of God, His looking in one my life and the wonders of this universe we've been given to embrace and explore.

The morning seem filled with a great and peaceful stillness. There was a point, as I walked and prayed, that even the birds were silent so I could hear. I was able to breathe in the peace and feel it strengthen my soul. The moments were a perfect birthday gift.

A new year starts for me today. I know, the calendar says the new year starts on January 1, but my rhythms for reflection, rejuvenation and new beginnings have always been strongest and more enduring around my personal year.

The past 12 months were a whirlwind of change for my family and the spinning started by many of the adjustments has yet to stop, or even slow down. To characterize any as good or bad is to try to give meaning in isolation, but nothing that happens is like that. Everything is, until later. It's value, significance, usefulness and meaning can only be evaluated in context, and context comes from the broader perspective of distance and from wisdom and thoughtfulness.  

The results of my
first mandala meditation. 

For the first time in years, 14 to be exact, I was able to indulge in my reflective, meditative ritual of renewal and resurgence. I rested, prayed, meditated, wrote, sat in solitude, chatted with friends, cooked, read, reorganized, indulged in creative pleasures, watched television, read, discarded, added, berated, praised, evaluated and planned, all to come to the start of this new year with gratitude, insight, energy, motivation and courage.

I start this year with as full a plate as any other, despite all I have released, and with faith as the only plan for how to pull it all off.  (That sentence made me laugh aloud with a joy from deep within. It acknowledged the peace about all that's to come I just this moment realized I possess.)

There is much to do, and I look forward to it with excitement and eagerness.

Some quotes, old and newly discovered, that I'm carrying into my new year (some of them mine):

"Uncertainty, surrounded by attention, intention and faith, lead to success."

"Everything is, until later."

"When you're lost and alone, or you're sinking like a stone, carry on. May your past be the sound, of your feet upon the ground, carry on."

"You will make it, but only if you run."

"A thing is exactly what it is, and nothing else."

"I put one foot in front of the other one. I don't need a new love or a new life, just another place to die."

"Woman can do all things if she will."

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

"In a day when you don't come across any problems, you can be sure you are traveling on the wrong path."

"Do not allow fear to keep you from reaching your goals and pursuing your dreams."

"In order to get more into your hands later, you have to be willing to give away what you hold now."

"Make the most of where you are. Your future may very well depend on it."

" Be encouraged in the fact that the adversity that stands before you is only temporary. Your success is not contingent on the adversity but rather you being able to see past it."

"When you do small things right, big things happen."

So, without further ado, I must get started. Happy new year, to me!