As the day bowed down and gave way to the impending night, so did the exhausted old year yield to the energetic new one. I had already started getting messages and forwards from friends and family across the ocean through social media, celebratory and jubilant. All expressing a wish that my family and I would have a prosperous, fun filled,healthy and happy new year; that the new year would bring with it new beginnings, new hopes and new aspirations. After all, they had already bid adieu to the old year and relegated it to their memories.
I, on the other hand was still in the process of saying my goodbyes. It was still New Years Eve for us in the western hemisphere and the old year was like the guest who was leaving after the party, but was in the midst of a last minute conversation at the door. The old year had not yet been captured and framed to be boxed up with its predecessors. I was preparing for a quiet separation, one that would not involve boisterous games and excited conversations and kids running around waiting for the obligatory slice of cake.
When the new year dawned on me, it brought with it more messages and wishes, all of them more or less repetitions of the same variety. I had nothing against them, I myself had sent numerous such replies to my well-wishers. But once I had done that, I found myself in an introspective mood. What, in the end, did these wishes mean? What is the recipient to do?
"Wishing you a New Year filled with new hope, new aspirations and new happiness"
Wouldn't it be amazing if wishes such as these were self-fulfilling and would grant us all that they contained, without needing anything from us in return? They would be fantastic!
Alas, then that wishes have no such power hidden in their depths. All they convey are expectations and desires and wants, whether for ourselves or for others. Do we then receive them, acknowledge them and let them flow through the sieves of our daily routines?
What if we picked through the list and selected the wishes that spoke most compellingly?
New aspirations? Check.
New happiness? Yes, please.
Then, what if we added our own goals and wants and yearnings to the pile?
Dig through that discarded bag of resolutions and dust off the "better health", "better relationships", "better career" wishes and look at them through renewed eyes.
Its time to convert the well meaning wishes into something more purposeful, something achievable and something that we all have to do for ourselves.
I want better health this year, like I have wanted for the past several years. I am going to have to take steps to achieve that, though. I will need to make better choices regarding food and I am most definitely going to need to make a sustainable plan for working out on a regular basis and follow through. I also want better relationships. That means, I will need to work on that also. I need to make plans to spend time in a meaningful way with my husband and my kids and my friends. Its not something that will happen automatically.
So dear readers, here I am, at the beginning of another beautiful year, not just wishing you a happy new year, but urging you all to find the purpose in your wishes and then working through a plan to bring those wishes to fulfillment. We are all fellow travelers in this life. Our wishes, goals and purposes might be as different as chalk and cheese, but the happiness that we will derive from the fulfillment will most certainly be the same.
Let us then make this year not just about passage of time, but about an achievement of desires and wants. Let us not be beguiled into thinking that our friends and neighbors have a better life than us just on the basis of their social media presence. They are also, after all struggling through their own personal obstacles that we might know nothing about. Let us look through a lens of optimism and encouragement and perseverance and realize that when we focus, we progress and when we progress, we fulfill. When we fulfill, we have contentment.
Let us all strive towards a state of contentment so that when it is time to look at this year in our rear view mirrors, we can do so with a lighter heart, a smiling face.
Happy New Year
I, on the other hand was still in the process of saying my goodbyes. It was still New Years Eve for us in the western hemisphere and the old year was like the guest who was leaving after the party, but was in the midst of a last minute conversation at the door. The old year had not yet been captured and framed to be boxed up with its predecessors. I was preparing for a quiet separation, one that would not involve boisterous games and excited conversations and kids running around waiting for the obligatory slice of cake.
When the new year dawned on me, it brought with it more messages and wishes, all of them more or less repetitions of the same variety. I had nothing against them, I myself had sent numerous such replies to my well-wishers. But once I had done that, I found myself in an introspective mood. What, in the end, did these wishes mean? What is the recipient to do?
"Wishing you a New Year filled with new hope, new aspirations and new happiness"
Wouldn't it be amazing if wishes such as these were self-fulfilling and would grant us all that they contained, without needing anything from us in return? They would be fantastic!
Alas, then that wishes have no such power hidden in their depths. All they convey are expectations and desires and wants, whether for ourselves or for others. Do we then receive them, acknowledge them and let them flow through the sieves of our daily routines?
What if we picked through the list and selected the wishes that spoke most compellingly?
New aspirations? Check.
New happiness? Yes, please.
Then, what if we added our own goals and wants and yearnings to the pile?
Dig through that discarded bag of resolutions and dust off the "better health", "better relationships", "better career" wishes and look at them through renewed eyes.
Its time to convert the well meaning wishes into something more purposeful, something achievable and something that we all have to do for ourselves.
I want better health this year, like I have wanted for the past several years. I am going to have to take steps to achieve that, though. I will need to make better choices regarding food and I am most definitely going to need to make a sustainable plan for working out on a regular basis and follow through. I also want better relationships. That means, I will need to work on that also. I need to make plans to spend time in a meaningful way with my husband and my kids and my friends. Its not something that will happen automatically.
So dear readers, here I am, at the beginning of another beautiful year, not just wishing you a happy new year, but urging you all to find the purpose in your wishes and then working through a plan to bring those wishes to fulfillment. We are all fellow travelers in this life. Our wishes, goals and purposes might be as different as chalk and cheese, but the happiness that we will derive from the fulfillment will most certainly be the same.
Let us then make this year not just about passage of time, but about an achievement of desires and wants. Let us not be beguiled into thinking that our friends and neighbors have a better life than us just on the basis of their social media presence. They are also, after all struggling through their own personal obstacles that we might know nothing about. Let us look through a lens of optimism and encouragement and perseverance and realize that when we focus, we progress and when we progress, we fulfill. When we fulfill, we have contentment.
Let us all strive towards a state of contentment so that when it is time to look at this year in our rear view mirrors, we can do so with a lighter heart, a smiling face.
Happy New Year
