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Today's
Meditation:
The
most important part of these words to me is the idea of us
allowing the old year to end. If we really
want to move into the new year in fresh and exciting ways,
then don't we have to leave the old year behind? Can
we make a clean start on a year while we're carrying the
baggage of yesterday around with us? What we did
yesterday is now gone, and what we do today very soon will
be in the past. When tomorrow comes, I hope to live
that day on its terms, and not try to bring today into the
mix.
Of
course, years don't end at all except in the artificial
human construct of time. To trees, January first
means nothing at all, for trees live each moment as it
happens. We humans, though, are obsessed with the
idea of time, and we like to see time clearly and strictly
defined. But just because we define time doesn't
mean that we leave yesterday's affairs with yesterday-- we
like to mix yesterday's problems with those of today,
making this day even more confusing.
Madeleine
makes sense, though, when she points out the importance of
the old year ending. When a movie ends, it's
over. We can carry its memory with us, but it is
over. When a year ends, we can allow it to be over,
but most of us don't do so. Rather, we keep thinking
about mistakes we made or problems we had, effectively
bringing them into the new year with us. But we
don't have to do so.
When
today comes to an end, I sincerely hope that I can put
this past year behind me and focus on what tomorrow brings
into my life. If I can do that, then next year will
start with a very positive focus and without many of the
worries and concerns that certainly don't need to be
there.
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