The dawn of each new year reminds us of our freedom to release the baggage of the past, to make new choices, and to embrace in a new way whatever comes. It’s a time to set our intentions for what we want our lives to look like, and to work toward creating the best life we can envision. At the same, it’s wise to acknowledge that, ultimately, we are not in control. One thing we know for sure is that, despite our best-laid plans, life will throw us some curve balls.
Following a spiritual path can help us take life’s ups and downs in stride and meet with greater equanimity the unexpected situations that arise. It can also help us recognize what we really want at the deepest level of our being and how to manifest these heartfelt desires. The spiritual journey guides us in the direction of decreased drama, increased silence, and a greater sense of our connectedness with all that is. It leads us toward the recognition that everything that happens is an opportunity to evolve beyond our limitations.
Of course, we have our self-improvement goals for the new year—health, finances, relationships, career—but if we only focus on these surface aspects, we may never dive deeper to discover the real treasures buried under all the busyness. We could miss the underlying truth of who we are and why we are here.
At the start of each year, I sometimes work with my therapy clients to review the past year and recognize those limiting attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors they want to release, and then clarify their intentions going forward. This year seems to be the year of the high-tech daily planner, some of which my clients have shared with me. These planners can be a valuable tool to help us identify and stay on track with goals that are consistent with our values. At the same time, in our achievement-oriented society, they can encourage a focus on doing rather than being. Even things like mindfulness can be viewed as an activity to accomplish and check off our to-do list.
One client, Mia, an attorney who had been in a mad rush to achieve for most of her forty-five years, shared her intention to slow down and be present. “Where am I going anyway?” she asked herself. “When I achieve one goal, I am off to the next.” She saw she would never “arrive.” She would never be satisfied in this way. She began to question why it is that we do anything. As we question our life in this way, we begin to awaken to new dimensions of ourselves. Mia would continue to be a high achiever, but she could begin to approach her life from a different angle, with greater awareness of her motivations. Like all of us, what she was truly looking for was happiness, fulfillment. And she could see that constantly pushing herself to achieve in order to be happy was misguided.
My seventy-something client, Amanda, who had seen only failure as she reviewed her life, came to a life-changing realization at the beginning of the year. She recognized she had been carrying the belief she had to do something significant to deserve to exist. She suddenly saw clearly that the fact she existed was enough validation. She could do things for the love of doing them rather than to prove her value.
The spiritual masters (and now scientists, too) tell us we are vibrational beings—fluid, not fixed. Because of this, we have a much greater ability to create than most of us realize. We don’t need to keep creating the same problems over and over again. We aren’t bound by the past unless we believe we are. At the same time, unless we have transcended them, we are subject to the laws of nature. The more we are in tune with these unbreakable laws, the more freedom we have to manifest our desires because they will be in alignment with the desires of nature.
As a new year and new decade dawn, what do you intend to create, and how do you intend to respond to the gifts and challenges that life will bring? Will you grow toward greater self-awareness, inner peace and contentment? Will you consciously evolve in the direction of increased presence and well-being? Will you step out of your programming to experience life fresh and new?
Wherever you are, whatever your circumstances, may you grow into the highest expression of yourself this year to experience the peace and fulfillment that has the power to transform the world. May you experience, as your lived reality, the truth of your nature as a vibrational being this year, this moment, and create a beautiful life for yourself and others.
