the day has come! we have now rung in 2012 and await the adventures, excitements, joys, disappointments, challenges, and opportunities that lie ahead.
before i say anything else, i gotta confess that i’m not really into making new year’s resolutions… i always seem to fail to meet them, and then i’m just pissed off at myself for being such a slacker, yet again. so, if you’re hoping to read a long list of the thins i hope to accomplish and the promises i make to myself, there will be no resolutions here.
but, what i am a big fan of during the new year celebrations is spending one day looking back & bidding the old year farewell; and then spending another day (usually new years day) having my own little pep rally complete with inspirational readings and a chance to ponder my dreams/goals. it’s more like writing my vision for the upcoming year, not a list of resolutions. sometime during new year’s day i find time & space to crawl into a little ball, usually under some covers, and write in a journal. if i’m lucky, i have a new journal with blank pages… the blank pages symbolizing the unwritten days and adventures that are yet to be lived.
before i get started with my solitary new year’s day celebration, though, i have a few things that i want to share. i’ve been thinking a lot about freedom these past few days. what it really means to be, to feel, free. freedom, for me, is not something that comes easy. it means that we find the strength & courage from deep within to listen to our soul, to be true to ourselves. freedom, for me, is living life and being true to the unique person we are made to be. but, in order to know who we are, we must listen to the songs that come up from our soul. we must listen to the voice that whispers crazy ideas & dreams to each of us. hearing that voice, feeling those callings, generally are scary & seem a bit irrational. but that’s because we have been living in a box that society has made, thinking that there is only one way to live life, afraid to take risks and worried what everyone else might think. and, of course, there are consequences to following our bliss, to being free to be ourselves. not everyone will be happy with us. we may be seen as “less successful” than others. we may have to face demons & ghosts & difficult memories from our past. in order to be free, we must walk through the darkness. we must be willing to suffer a little. but, on the other side, oh my gosh… it is so amazing!
i want to whisper something into your ear on this new year’s day: listen carefully to your soul. seek your passion. follow your bliss. find yourself.
i’m a big believer in the journey of life, that we are never “done” with ourselves until the day we die (and who knows what happens then. are we done? or do we continue on just another part of our journey?). much of our journey here on earth is up to us. sure, there are circumstances & things that happen in our lives that we cannot control, but we can always control our responses, or what we learn from every experience we have in life. and then, there are the dreams. on new year’s day, we’re presented with yet another year in front of us, another part of our journey. what will we make of it? how will we fill the days? will we find the courage to follow our bliss, to live our passion, to see everything as sacred, to trust that all will be well, to spread love & peace, to realize that even the ordinary can be extraordinary?
my dear friends and family, as this new year begins, i wish you joy & happiness. and i long for each of you to use your journey through this year, through your life, to keep discovering who you are. reinvent yourself. listen to your heartbeat. breathe deeply & slowly. soak in the moments. live life!
AMAZING! I’m totally telling myself that every moment, and each shrine and temple I visit and do my pray/blessing thing at I’m telling myself to live true to my desires, and hope that this is exactly what my mind helps me decide!
ps. Liz, even the little I know of you – you would bloody love it here in Japan! It is incredible, peaceful, spiritual – EVERYWHERE!
Holly: I’m dying. I wanna be there! I wanna go there! It’s on my bucket list now, for sure! Loooove reading your posts! xx, my blog friend!