Will a New Year Bring a New Way of Being?

“Life is so inherently flawless, even when emotions get suppressed, the Universe gently moves you one step closer to cultivating the strength and courage to face your feelings directly. That is why experiences repeat. We all get it perfectly in the end.” –Matt Kahn

As I say goodbye to 2020 and all the challenges it held, it feels good to believe that I now face a different, brighter future. And this kind of optimism and intention is always beneficial. It affirms my trust in the flawlessness of life. 

But is it correct to think that a new year will lead to a new way of being? 

The answer is no. There is no NEW way. It may sound oversimplified, but being is being. The key to creating a new version of anything is always about accepting the present rather than striving to become something different. 

All change begins in consciousness and the greatest goal I can set for myself is to come to know that consciousness by being present to the here and now. 

When I become still, connect to my breath, and allow myself to simply BE, I become aware of the many ways I resist change:

I want to have a brand new future, but at the same time, I hang on to the past. 

I find myself labeling people and events as either good or bad. 

I desire expansion but I’m afraid of the unknown. 

I used the holy nights around the holiday to go deep into stillness and what I discovered was that my fears were around a sense of security. As I meditated, I got the sense that I was tapping into a collective consciousness. It felt that there was something much deeper and bigger feeding my fears, as if the foundation had been ripped out from under all of us. The level of collectiveness surprised me. 

When the riots on Capitol Hill occurred, I thought, “How did that happen?” I experienced so much confusion and overwhelm. When I tried to watch the news my soul felt depleted. I took a long walk in the park with my dog Dewey and allowed nature, the rhythm of the earth, to calm me. 

During these times, I imagine having a conversation with my higher self. I love the words of poet David Whyte, that “The root of the word conversation originally meant a deep form of intimacy. Right in the middle of the word we also see the word converse, which essentially means ‘inside out.’ So the conversational nature of reality is the intimate, inside-outness of reality. The way, in deep listening, birdsong is heard inside and outside the body.”

For me, this is the new way of being—being “new” in every moment. I do this through my breath and by listening deeply to this body that is speaking to me all the time. 

I know that when I keep breathing and keep connecting my body to my breath, I will find a sense of union and peace. 

From a place of peace, I can embrace change. 

If you’re hoping for big changes to come your way in 2021, how can you first discover a new way of being in this moment? We all have opinions about how to change the world, but we don’t really want to face change on a personal level. Can you make even the simplest changes in your routine? How hard or how easy is it? 

When you think of the upcoming year, how does it feel in your body? How much are you resisting change? 

The more we connect to the breath and meet our fears and stay present to the unknown, the more the breath will guide us. 

It’s the breath that creates the future. 

What’s really going to shift the external world is an internal change within each of us. It has a ripple effect. 

The energy of the new year is the Divine Feminine and I look forward to aligning more and more with this in my upcoming blogs, newsletters, healing sessions and events. There will be many opportunities to open our hearts and release resistance in the days ahead. 

Stay grounded and be ready to receive. Remember, you can’t get this wrong.