DSC_3295 b.jpg — The Beginning of a New Year

by Simie Seaman

Every year on December 31st, people celebrate New Year’s Eve, the last of the year. It’s a day to say “goodbye” to the old and “hello to the new. We celebrate by attending parties, eating special New Year’s foods, making resolutions for the New Year, watching fireworks displays and the ball dropping in Times Square. We should welcome the New Year every year with new energy and enthusiasm so that our life becomes even better.

The Beginning of the New Year is seen as a transition for many of us. New Year is a historic day. It’s a time to step back from our life to reconsider where we’ve been and where we want to go. Some of us are naturally inclined toward meditation and refection at this time. There may be sadness of the losses and struggles that occurred, as well as an appreciation of good fortune in celebrating the start of yet another year.

It’s easy to jump quickly into our hopes for the future. We hope that the changing of year will rescue us from past habits and holes that we have dug for ourselves. We make a list of resolutions in hope that our willpower will be strong enough to launch us into a new way of living.

But in moving from one year to the next, we need to take time to pause for a moment. Pause to celebrate. Pause to reflect. Pause to take inventory. And pause to see what you can learn from the past year. Self-reflection is a powerful process.

For most of us, self-reflection is a missing piece of our lives. We’re very busy. We’re tired. We look for rest through books, beds, television and the Internet. The idea of spending several hours or more sitting quietly and reflecting on the past year, seems strange and bit uncomfortable. But in what time we have left of the year, we have a wonderful opportunity to reminisce about your favorite moments, a time to appreciate all the little and big things that were a part of our lives in the past year, and also to draw some conclusions about which kinds of things make us HAPPY and which DON”T

If you are into setting goals and already have some ideas for New Year’s resolutions or things you want to achieve start with a clean slate, create what you want in the New Year. Anything goes: it’s your future. Set an impossible goal for yourself: do something you have never done before. Impossible goals help you reach higher for something new and which otherwise might never happen. If you don’t seize the moment, time will keep on moving, and you might never try.

Don’t worry if the goals seem too lofty-with deliberate planning and execution, anything is possible. On the way to success, the rule is always to look ahead. May you reach your destination, May your journey be outstanding.

Here’s to the past year and moments replayed – Here’s to the memories that wait to be made. Here’s to a NEW YEAR!