New Year Rituals

The New Year is just 3 days away. It's a time when many people stop and reflect on the year just ending and the year to come. And a time for New Year's rituals to embody those thoughts, desires, dreams, and wishes.

Here is a common and meaningful ritual for the New Year.

Releasing the Old

Take a moment to reflect on what you would like to release for the New Year. Is there something that you feel is holding you back from all you want to be and express? Perhaps it is fear, excess, weight, resistance, or something else. Take out a piece of paper and write a statement to express it. For example, "I release everything currently holding me back from financial success."

If you have a fireplace or wood stove, you can mindfully put this prayer of release this into the fire.
If you don't have a fireplace, you can tear or shred the paper, or bury it to decompose in the ground. Or write the release on toilet paper and flush its down the toilet. You can release this in any way that feels true and good to you. For a feeling of lightness, you might like to wave bye-bye to it as it swirls down and away. If you feel more solemn about it, then bring that reflective mindfulness to your release.

Calling In the New

What would you most like to bring into your life experience in 2016? More fun? More income? Vibrant health? A better relationship with a family member? A new love interest or deepened connection to your existing partnership?

Take a moment to reflect on this. Really feel into what would be great. Phrase this in a positive way. For example, instead of phrasing it as "No more stress" write something like "Ease, Flow. Peace". You can write a prayer or affirmation, or just a few words.

Don't worry about how it would happen or even whether it's possible. Just feel what you would like to experience in the coming year, and write that down on another piece of paper. If you are not a writer, find or draw a picture that symbolizes what you want. This paper can go on your altar, or some place that you will see it regularly. Or it can be planted as a symbol of a seed that will grow. You can tie it in a tree, or put it in a corner of your home that represents that part of your life.

In the past, friends would tie their hope onto a balloon and release it, but this is not an eco-friendly method, so think of something that feels right to you.

How About You?

Do you do New Year's Rituals? What is your favorite?

Return of De-Light

This morning was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year.

It is a time of celebration because the light returns tomorrow as the days become longer each day.  It is the return of de-light!

We still have longer nights than days until the Spring Equinox, so it is still a time for introspection and germination, like a seed in the soil.





This longest night of darkness and the return of the light… return of del-light…

Like most of us, as a child I felt the Joy and limitlessness of innocent youth. Then, just as the night becomes longer than the day, as I grew, I learned to think and experience life in the same way as those before me and around me. Or as don Miguel Ruiz would phrase it, I was domesticated. I forgot who I was.

So now it is time for us to return to the light. To remember who we are. To shine that Light. T return to the delight and the Light of our innocence.

It is time for the return of De-Light.

May your life and your year be filled with the Light and deLight!

Lessons from the Garden

I’ve had indoor plants for decades, but I’m new to gardening. And I had fun digging in a community garden recently. My job was to weed two raised beds.

Bermuda Grass

Now if you’ve never weeded Bermuda grass, you may not know about the roots. I knew that the roots went pretty deep for this kind of grass. So I dug, following the roots. down. And down. And down. I noticed a few things that seem to mirror my mind.

First, that the surface had quite a few appearances of this grass, but as I dug, I saw that it came from the same root system. Second, that much of the grass on the surface was connected deep down.

So it is with my mind. I seem to have a variety of areas in my mind or in my life where I need to weed. But ultimately, it all comes from one source. One big deep root.

Faith As Deep and Tenacious

And then a friend pointed out that Bermuda grass is quite tenacious. A small clump of roots could sit

dormant for years in  the shed or in a dry patch of ground. But sprinkle a little water on it, and it grows. And grows. And grows. He said, “As you dig, pray that your faith is as tenacious as that Bermuda grass.” In some ways it is. And then there is my couch potato resume.

A Lifetime Project

And no matter how deep you dig, and how carefully you follow that root system, it seems like it will take a lifetime to rid that raised bed of all of the Bermuda grass. So it is with life. I could spend a lifetime weeding my mind of one thing. Like eating too many sweets.

Or I could just know that those weeds, those deep roots are there, and choose not to water them. I can choose to choose a different thought when I want that cookie or that beautiful pair of earrings.

How about you?

What lessons has your garden taught you?