Create

Happy 2013!

I know it's a week late, but the last week has been so busy that it feels like I'm just now being able to get settled in the new year and really reflect on it.

I can't remember the last time I made a new year's resolution. I used to take it very seriously, and as a child I remember feeling genuinely repentant at the end of the year for things I had done or left undone. In my religious faith, the first of the year used to coincide with a religious holiday (now it's counted by the lunar calendar so it happens sometime in February...don't get me started). Every year we would write down our reflections and our repentance, and we would burn all the things we wanted to leave behind and not take with us into the new year. Then, with our new resolutions and goals, we would wait till midnight, and while fireworks and cheers went up around us, we would pray by the fire. The point is to start the new year off with God, in fact, we call the celebration "God's Day". As you can imagine, I was left out of a number of New Years parties growing up...probably to my ultimate benefit.

I remember those last few days of the year as always being very heavy, full of shame, regret, and determination to do better. I don't remember exactly when it happened, but gradually the heavier intense emotions fell away, and I would no longer dwell on the year that had passed, but looked more towards the hope of the future. In fact, it's been several years since I have burned anything in the fire, or even felt the need to. Is this my own arrogance? Surely there are things I can repent for. No, I think it's that I've realized that the day itself doesn't hold the power. When you live consciously, you can make a change at any point in time. You can repent, you can forgive, you can start fresh on any day. No need to wait till the first of the year.

And yet, the end of the year and beginning of a new one is still an important focal point. There is such a unified consciousness around it, much like the spirit of Christmas urges us to be giving, the spirit of New Years invites us to dream and take stock. It's good to check in with ourselves, and New Years is a wonderful reminder to do so.

I don't make resolutions anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't have things I want to accomplish. At the end of December I read a few different blogs that talked about how they do New Year's Resolutions, perhaps you've heard of this trend, but instead of making a long list of specific things to do or not do, you pick one word to focus on. I like that idea, to me it feels much more freeing than constricting myself to a set of rules that I'll probably break by week two. Some common words are "balance", "peace", "abundance", "health". The word that first popped into my head when I was thinking about my own word was, "Create". There are a number of things I want to physically create this year, the books that I'm writing, music, (some cash flow would be nice!), but it's also a reminder that I am always creating my own reality; that I am not merely being tossed on the winds of circumstances. I have the ability to create those circumstances to some degree, and where I don't, I create my reaction to them.

So here's to a creative 2013!

Do you make resolutions? Are you still keeping yours? What will you create this year?