New Year

New Year: 

this past year has been difficult for so many of us, perhaps for most of us, we've all suffered and lost in some way. So we turn to a new year with no small amount of hope, a wish for a happier, healthier, more fulfilling year then last. May it be so for each of you, may it be so for me. Yet it strikes me now of how we measure this in terms of an annual change, an event, of months to a year, weeks, days and even smaller still to hours and minutes to be counted. Time is the illusion of our control, that we can resolve our way to something better, more lasting than before. It's always an escape from the present moment, now, a timeless point that can't be measured, nor counted down to another time. This is where all change occurs, and it's constant, right now we are the resolve of motion, a continuous, dynamic event of being alive. There is absolutely nothing for us to wait for.

everything happens now.

of course time is a major part of our lives, we maintain a schedule, celebrate holidays, and use a new year to review our accomplishments and set new goals. But time also tends to rob us of the present moment, mentally removes us from experiences occurring right now, the simple, yet vital things we take for granted. This isn't a call for mindfulness, a worthy endeavor, but one that often takes great effort. What I'm asking for here is more effortless, natural, an easy pause to note our own awareness. 

everything occurs here.

this present moment is never truly abandoned, we never really wander from it, even as we daydream of years before and times that have yet to come. We're always here, it's never not now. It's that simple. We're aware. Just not aware that this is so. And that's our call for new year's, awakening, and it's not resolution, nor a method to be practiced. It's simply being what we are, right now, perfect in the sense that things can't be any other way than they are at this moment, yet knowing too that life always brings a certain change. Each instant is a new year, a revelation of our fluid nature, motion, an event that has never occurred before and won't ever again happen in this way. What we celebrate is awareness itself, that at any moment we can add our appreciation to the life we have - how each breath is a singular occurrence, a renewal of every cell and vital function. If we pause, listening, our heartbeat is the vibration of the world, a rhythm that hints of our connection, a coherence expressed through individual patterns, yet always part of something so much larger, a universal song of our belonging. 

this moment marks a new year within a timeless realm.

right now is all we truly have.

we're aware.

celebrate. 

~

Peace, Eric