Let's close our eyes.
As we are entering a new year,
There is some kind of a magical quality in the way we experience this reset of time,
If you may.
Although we know it's just another week,
It's just another day,
A continuation of time,
But yet there is some sort of difference in the way we feel.
It's like a clean slate that we can write anything or like a blank canvas.
We can paint anything we want.
Infinite possibilities to steer our life in whatever direction we think we need to go.
A lot of us aspire to be healthier,
To be more organized,
More productive,
And we do start in that direction.
And I don't need to talk about our New Year's resolutions.
Most of us don't make it through our New Year's resolutions.
I'm not here to talk about the scientific or documented data.
And I want to stay true to our experience,
To the way we feel,
And what happens to the way we feel.
This is one of the longest holiday breaks that we get,
At least here in the US.
And most of us get the well-needed break from the mundane.
Maybe we catch up on our sleep as well.
The mundane is completely different.
There's more celebration.
There's less pressure.
The mind is relaxed.
The body is really recovering.
And then you get this reset,
A potential reset in our life.
And we feel inspired,
Energized,
Enthusiastic to do something that we've always wanted to do.
I don't think this is an accident.
I don't think that if this New Year,
January 1st or the first week of Jan came without holidays,
We would feel this way.
I think the break,
The longer break from work,
Especially work from our daily mundane,
Pre-chalked-out life,
That we feel this inspiration,
A lightness,
A freedom,
Freedom to fly,
To steer in whatever direction we want.
But one thing that becomes a hurdle is that we are bringing in the same habits into the New Year.
We might feel inspired to do something,
But once the new work week starts,
The same old becomes new.
The stress,
The pressure,
The lack of sleep,
Or maybe the lack of restful sleep starts creeping back up and our bodies are more jaded as this year progresses.
And this happens pretty quick.
I'm talking weeks.
The familiar of the previous year in terms of feeling creeps up in the first few weeks because our habits take us there.
No matter how enthusiastic we are,
If our bodies are not well rested,
Not well nourished,
There's nothing that happens from an enthusiastic mind.
So technically this reset can happen anytime,
But somehow it is easily designed at the beginning of the year and instead of focusing on what needs to be changed,
What needs to be achieved,
Or what needs to be fixed,
I would nudge our attention back to how we feel.
This freedom,
These possibilities,
The willingness to change,
That's the precious part.
The rest.
Wouldn't it be nice to feel free,
To be willing to change at any point,
Any day of the year,
To see the potential possibilities and to have that energy and rest needed to accomplish them any day of the year?
The way I see it is,
These two,
Two and a half weeks that we got rest,
We got the mental and physical nourishment,
The emotional nourishment is probably because we were exactly where we wanted to be.
We were at home,
And home not necessarily as a physical place,
But a place where we want to be.
So all throughout the year,
We wish we were somewhere else,
Doing something else,
With someone else.
That jades us,
Kind of drags us.
And this wanting to be somewhere else,
Doing something else,
With someone else,
Is a very romantic idea.
It's almost always designed to not be present,
To not be grateful to what is happening right now,
To where we are right now.
It's assumed that wherever we are right now is not the right place,
And somewhere there,
That imagined place is the right place to be.
Or that situation that I'm imagining is where I should be.
Over the holidays,
I did a couple of online retreats with my teacher,
And I remember him saying,
You are exactly where you are supposed to be.
But we also have the freedom to nudge life into the direction that we want to go.
But that cannot come without acceptance or acknowledgement of where we are,
And being at peace with where we are.
And this is an experiment I would encourage all of you to do,
To keep taking stock of how we are interpreting our current life scenario,
Our workplace,
Where we are in terms of health,
In terms of relationships,
In terms of situations,
And see if we are wishing to be somewhere else.
And this wish is not,
Most of the time,
Is not verbalized.
It's not formulated in the mind as a clear concept,
But it's more at a feeling level.
It's like when you have sprained your ankle.
We know it's there.
We can feel the pain.
But deep down,
We are just wishing,
Putting all our energy into its disappearance.
And by energy,
I mean all our attention.
And if we look back in our life,
We will notice that whatever pain,
Whether in terms of people,
Situations,
Or things that we were experiencing,
Actually helped us in some weird way.
It did help us.
And that's why we are here.
So the question to ask would be,
Why do I want this to change?
Why is it in my life right now?
What habits?
What beliefs?
Am I holding on to,
Or following,
Or executing in a conscious or unconscious way that is creating or sustaining this pain in my life?
Because that will help us understand not just what we want to get rid of directly,
But why is it even there?
Why do we,
Why do I feel like being at home?
Or why do I feel like not going to work?
Just like we did over the holidays.
It was a break.
Why is break a more aspired time than our everyday life of work,
Chores,
Responsibilities?
Maybe I'm not getting enough rest on a daily basis.
And that is something I need to explore.
Maybe I don't like what I'm doing.
And that is something we need to explore.
And all this requires a lot of energy,
A lot of curiosity about our own life,
A lot of enthusiasm about the infinite possibilities that could be available to us.
So before our minds become jaded in the humdrum of everyday life,
This kind of reflection,
Reflection under the umbrella of enthusiasm and possibilities can get us more clarity.
That way we are not just wishing for different outcomes in our life,
But we are actively engaged in the activities that lead to those outcomes,
Because it's not just enough to get those outcomes.
Our life needs to be molded so that that outcome is not something that comes and can go right away,
But it stays.
The attitude of getting clarity by reflecting,
By asking hard questions,
The attitude of prioritizing our rest so that we have the energy,
The courage to accept something that we have encouraged in our life,
And then more courage to wean it off.
I hope these words are either giving you hope or probably bringing out some fears,
Fear of change or hope of change.
Different emotion,
Same outcome.
One is a pull,
The other is a push.
It's easier to be pulled than to be pushed.
I hope this year marks a year of clarity,
A year of courage,
A year of rest,
A year of enthusiasm and love and kindness and the freedom,
Freedom to live fully.
Happy New Year.
Thank you.
