It’s a new year again, happens every year. We all feel great that the past year is over with and hope that the new year will see our dreams come true and our wishes come to fruition.
It’s always a good idea to reflect on the old year, what went right and what went wrong, what friends we might have made and what friends we might have lost. Could we have done anything better? Maybe we should have spent more time with someone, or said ‘I Love You’ more often, maybe we should have made more of an effort. What have we learnt?
Most of us hold the hope that things will be better in the new year than the old. We make New Years resolutions and hope that we will have stuck to them by the time February comes. There is always the hope that this year we’re going to get it right, do the right thing at the right time with the right people. Maybe this year we will travel more or maybe have a more restful year, maybe this year we will spend more time with friends or perhaps have more time for relaxation, maybe this year we will say yes to opportunities rather than stick to what we know or are used to.
For so many of us, it has been a very difficult year, but how are we right now, in this moment? What if we lived our life totally in the NOW. Sometimes looking back helps us to see the lessons we have learnt or still need to learn, sometimes looking forward we see where we want to be, but in the NOW there is no past or future, there is only every second of life, lived.
I guess being the age I have got too, (not ancient, but getting there) I find myself taking moments to appreciate life, to appreciate the colours in a drop of water, to appreciate the birds turning over the leaves of my plants searching for a juicy breakfast bug, to appreciate the sun’s rays as it slips down through the sky changing the colour of the sky with its onward passage - well I know it isn’t the sun moving so much as our dear planet. Appreciating all that I have and who I have in my life.
We do sometimes bring ‘stuff’ with us from the past in the shape of shadows, issues, beliefs, hurts and grief but how does it feel in the Now? I know it might be hard when you are in pain or feeling ill, but I find that appreciating the moment takes the sting of pain away for that precise moment which tells the body that it is possible to live with less pain.
If we lived in the NOW there would be no need to make New Year resolutions because every moment is one we know we have created for ourselves. If we want to lose weight, we can feel how heavy or light we are in the moment so if offered a chocolate, we have the choice, based on how we feel (heavy or not so heavy) as to whether we accept that chocolate. If we accept it, being in the moment we can feel how our body feels when we eat it. Being in the moment the chocolate will be tastier as all our senses are more open and aware. It means we have complete freedom of choice, we don’t have to look to the future and hope for our desired weight or look at our past to see how we don’t like how our body looks, in the moment there is no past or future, just the Now and if we are going to eat that chocolate, then lets enjoy it with every sense we have.
We live life at a fast pace, always striving to get somewhere but there is no striving in the Now, only appreciation and satisfaction. I know that sometimes we have to be somewhere at a certain time, but what if we could still experience the Now. Instead of a brisk walk to the car with our mind already on where we are going to find a parking space once we get there, why don’t we totally take in our surroundings as we walk to the car, appreciating the patch of grass we pass, or how good the neighbours garden looks, then when we reach our car, experience how it feels to sit in it, how it feels surrounded by interesting knobs, dials and gadgets. Experience totally how it feels to drive, how it feels to be on the road with lots of other human beings. Really let in the music you might be playing, enjoying the moment even stuck in traffic. A parking space will materialise just when you need it without you concerning yourself about it beforehand. I tell you, you will get to where you needed to get to in a much more relaxed and happier manner.
Appreciation and gratitude are powerful feelings, it makes you think differently and allows energies and universal forces to support and help you, living in the Now with no thought of the past or future really does help you to appreciate all that you have in that moment, and the next and the next.
If you haven’t read the book : The Power of Now by Eckert Tolle, do so, it is full of helpful gems.
We have all been pushed, pulled and thrown into new energies and ultimately, growth, this year. Let’s use all that we know to live more peacefully, lovingly, in the moment.
I do wish you a pain free, happy, fulfilling, loving year and life.
Thanks you so much for reading this, I appreciate your presence and hold you in love.
