Part of releasing the past is shifting our sight to the future and trusting ourselves to not look back to see if we are being followed. Not checking behind us is hard this year because of all that has happened. It has been enough to cause some mild PTSD. Speaking as someone who was diagnosed with cancer and underwent 7 months of chemotherapy and radiation, after thinking I was going to die (and undergoing months of biopsies and diagnoses. . . ), it's been quite a year. Yet it has also been quite a triumph, offering growth rings hard to attain any other way. Take a moment to appreciate how far you and we have come. Adversity breeds creativity and agility as we learn to navigate and move in different and innovative ways together. We are learning to dance with death and embrace life anew.
Confronting death makes us more alive, just as moving through fear brings us deeper into the heart of love. So, celebrate the challenges, trials, and tribulations that have brought you to where you stand now, making you who you are. You are stronger and more capable for the fires that have formed you. As we turn upon the wheel into a new year together, remember that resilience lies buried and dormant in our depths, and we can draw upon it as a deep well of sweet water when we need it most. More than anything, look into the depths of your heart and trust in love. Love is both simple and profound, holding the answer to every question in its myriad forms. The answer is always love. As we open our eyes to the beauty and wonder around us and within us, dare to see the brilliance of the night sky reflected in the eternal heart within you. Give thanks for the past year that has kindled and stoked the fire of your transformation, whisper a prayer of gratitude to the year that has gone, and let it go like a spark from a funeral pyre into the night sky . . . or a butterfly on the breeze.
Carl Jung said, "Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." It is time for us to awaken to what is before us as we are bathed by the resplendent beauty of a new day and a golden dawn.