“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.”
T. S. Eliot
Photo: Charles Davidson
Are you pleased with the direction your life took in 2013? Do you have any regrets about last year or any hopes for change for the New Year? Will this year be a new beginning in some way?
A peace always falls over me at the beginning of a new year. It’s like stepping through a portal that will provide me with new experiences and broaden my awareness. I know that each year I grow—sometimes from positive experiences and sometimes from negative ones. If I haven’t been pleased with the year, I can choose to let go of my displeasure and reorganize and rethink my life so that in this New Year I will be more of the person I want to be.
Much of what I experienced in 2013 was good. I did book signings, workshops, and sold books. I made new friends. I went on many wonderful hikes. Most important of all, I began a deeply meaningful relationship that I never expected would happen at this time in my life.
But that was last year, and I wonder what voice will emerge from within me and through my writing for this year. I’ve already started putting together a book of poetry, and within my own poems are many voices. I have changed.
There is the voice of isolation that speaks through my poems about winter in Nebraska years ago. There is voice of new found strength and recovery from a previously failed relationship. There is the joy and exhilaration of connecting with nature and the flight of birds, and the mystical, spiritual experiences of deeply relating with others.
Although many voices may appear in my writing, they all emerge from my core, and the journey continues. Last year was last year with its surprises and lessons. It has ended, but now there is a new year and I have to reflect on what I want it to be.
I don’t make resolutions, but I do reflect on some of the things I hope will be a part of next year. I begin to create some plans to make those desires manifest. I envision what succeeding to get what I desire will feel like, and I begin to feel those goals will be reached even when I have no idea of the mechanics that will make them happen.
So I begin to create a year of new beginnings, always with joy at the center, and the ability to accept whatever the New Year brings. I tingle with excitement over what may be possible as I continue to dance this dance of life. And above all, I commit to choreographing a New Year filled with love, peace, and joy.
May this be a joyful year for you all!
© 2014 Georganne Spruce ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5
Awakening to the Dance 