New Beginnings

​I know, it is a cliché to talk about new beginnings on New Year’s day. But here I go.
 
I overheard my daughter telling her girlfriends that she didn’t have any new year’s resolutions because what’s the point if we never keep them. I recognize the truth in that. And yet, there is something important in the ritual of acknowledging that as we bring closure to a year, we have the opportunity to set new intentions. However, it takes more than new intentions to create change and establish new habits.
 
I do have big desires and plans for this new year. There are many things I want to create and experience. There are also many transitions and changes that will occur and that I need to be prepared for. But the one reflection from today, the first day of 2018, is that in every moment, I always have the opportunity to begin again.
 
Today I had a fight with someone I love. They said something that caused an explosive reaction from me. I don’t lose my composure that easy, but today I did. Good thing, I was on my way to take a shower, so after the confrontation, I proceed to close the door behind me and cried while I let the warm water wash away the sadness I was feeling. I recognized I had a choice: either I could come out of the bathroom and step back into the “past” – the conflictual conversation I had before my shower – or start anew, letting the conflict behind, and move forward from our common ground.
 
Every year is a new beginning. Every day is a new beginning. Every minute is a new beginning.  There is something liberating in acknowledging that we always have the power to pause, let go of something, and welcome the opportunity to begin again.
May 2018 be full of new beginnings! 

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