Our unmarked calendars lie open before us, glistening and clear and holding the promise of life well lived, starting now. Their utter blankness is entreating; it whispers to us of hopes and dreams that might, finally, be penciled in. This year, anything is possible. This year, we tell ourselves, I will live the life I came here to live.
We sigh a wistful sigh, still enveloped in the glimmer and warmth of the holidays. Wouldn't it be lovely if....but then we remember that the holidays are behind us and it's time to head back into the real world. We chide ourselves for being so foolish, allowing the fuzzy goodwill of the season to color our thinking. Life isn't about connecting with loved ones and eating good food and praying for peace on earth; life is about paying the bills and getting ahead - or not falling too far behind. Life is about filing our tax returns and angling for that raise and saving for our retirement (a time we hope will not be littered with health crises). Life is about taking care of business.
Except that, really, it is not. Life is about life, and living, and expressing the fullness of who we are, for our joy and for the good of the whole. The holiday season isn't a break from the real world, it beckons us to the real world - a world in which we honor our goodness and create time for what really matters. A world that thrills and enlivens us with its loving command to put our passion into practice, to live from the truth of who we are. A world that, in our heart of hearts, we secretly long for -
but don't really think is possible.
And yet what makes it possible is our willingness to believe it can be so. Are you willing to be inspired? One of the best-kept secrets of our cynical age is that inspiration is not a gift that is bestowed on the
lucky few; it is a choice we make moment to moment. We may not always succeed, but our willingness to choose inspiration, again and again, ultimately loosens the grip that despair and hopelessness and resignation have on our souls. We can make a difference because we are the difference - and we dare to make a stand for joy.
Resolve, this year, to be inspired. Allow that intention to stir your thoughts and words and action. Regardless of whether you hope to change your eating habits or change the world, know that positive change - which I like to think of as moving toward wholeness - is not only possible, it is inevitable. Trust your innermost heart of hearts to lead you, step by step. If you stumble on uncertainty or confusion and fall headlong into cynicism, pause and congratulate yourself: you are human! And then choose, quietly, once again, to step back on the path of inspiration. Revel in having the choice to make. In the provocative words of Rob Brezsny,
"Cynicism is idiotic. Fear is a bad habit. Despair is lazy. Joy is fascinating. Love is an act of heroic genius. Pleasure is our birthright."
- from "Secrets of Pronoia, How The World Is Conspiring To Shower You With Blessings" by Rob Brezsny, which appeared in the November 2005 issue of "The Sun" magazine
May you fully claim your birthright in 2006 - and beyond.
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“There was something that occurred after the very tender meditation you did, which expressed the insight that, "I didn't know 'it' was within." I was curious about the fact that this was standing out for me. I'd been reflecting on its truth, and the fact that it's not something we're "conditioned" to believe. Last night in a book I've been reading, reference was made to the root of the word religion. The Latin stem of the word is "religio," meaning "connecting to one's own self"!! It literally "electrified" the connection between those comments and the experience of Divine Openings!! Thank you so much, Suzanne, for nurturing this understanding, and for bringing to us this beautiful work that allows us to feel the tender and intimate connection to the Source of Grace that lives within us all.” – L. B.
