Posts Tagged ‘new year’

Out with the Old…

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

I love this picture (sent to me by a friend) as beautifully visual way to think about the way that things can be washed away, and fresh starts made.  As regular readers will know, 2010 was just about as tough a year as anyone could imagine for the Cooke clan.  Xmas, I’m happy to report, passed off a whole lot better than I feared and thanks to a family and friends, some fun was had amidst the obvious shadows. 

I don’t pretend for a second that we will let go of last year with the completeness or ease that this picture suggests but perhaps, grain-by-grain, some of the scars maybe filled in, and a new surface prepared for us to ‘write’ on.

Everyone will have things they would like to let go of, and I think this time of year provides an opportunity for us to chose to take steps in this direction.  It does take energy to hold onto things and if we can just allow our ‘fingers’ to open, then perhaps the slipping away can begin.  We often embrace and hold onto our hurts as they do, in someway, define us.  We have to decide if we are the person who was hurt and damaged or the one who is beginning anew.

I in no way pretend that this is easy; indeed, I am still searching for the way through, but the first step is a willingness to let go.  For all those out there who were hurt in 2010, I hope and pray that we can all allow the tide to give us a fresh start this year and renew ourselves and write a new and happier story.

“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”   Havelock Ellis

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.”    Lao Tzu

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The end and beginning of another year

Friday, January 1st, 2010

We have woken up not only to a new year, but a new decade; and we did so under the light of a real blue moon.  As 2009 drew to a close I asked myself “What have you learnt this year?  What are the key changes?”   And I have to tell you I found the question very hard to answer.  This is in part due to my nature, which tends to be ever-focused on the present, and the past rapidly loses definition on the past, but also down to the fact that this was a year of gradual rather than radical shifts.

For me, this was the year that saw my eldest graduate and move back home, trying to launch herself on the ‘real world’.  My middle one, change course and realise that she wished to be a teacher and enter university, and my youngest finish his art course and decide what he wants to do.  So significant directional changes for all my children.  For me it was pretty much ‘steady as she goes’.  We weathered the financial crisis moderately well, but it feels a bit like like maintaining one’s heading through thick fog and just hoping there are no icebergs out there!

  Good books always have strong storylines and it is far easier to write gripping stuff when lots of exciting things are happening but Life has a lot of moments that are more like long motorway journeys, where one just sits there and the world hurtles passed.

How was 2009 for you and what did you learn?

I wish all of you a very prosperous, happy and enriching 2010.  Why not start this decade as you mean to go on?  I intend to;  I’m off to a lovely little country pub, with a roaring fire and a good lunch with the lady I love.

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul”     G. K. Chesterton

 

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A journey into the unknown

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

We took advantage of yesterday’s fabulous wintery weather with a wonderful stroll in the Surrey/Sussex hills.  My son took this photo and for me it is so evocative of the odd monochrome light; it was like walking through a Japanese movie set.

It seems to tell a tale of two people setting off into the new year with the path beneath their feet but the future hidden in the mists.  If we can enjoy the beauty that surrounds us in plain sight, relish the gifts of the present and trust our feet to bear us forward then this year should be a good one.

I wish you all a exciting, awe-inspiring, beautiful journey this year….

“When you have come to the edge Of all light that you know And are about to drop off into the darkness Of the unknown, Faith is knowing One of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or You will be taught to fly”   Patrick Overton

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Wake up!!

Sunday, January 4th, 2009

I was rudely awoken at 3am when my darling daughter returned home from a night out.  I know it is one of the perks of parenthood to have ones nights disturbed by ones offspring.  In the early days they wake us up because they are hungry, sick or in need of changing.  To my horror, I discover at the other end of the spectrum, not much has changed!!

Whilst I can’t pretend to have enjoyed the process, perhaps it is in the nature of being woken up that we resent the process.  Here we are, happily living our lives, going down Life’s highway with cruise control on and the music turned up, oblivious to what is going on all around us.

Well there is nothing like a New Year and a global financial melt-down to wake you up!  Life has many ways of nudging us onto a different  path.  Take some time out before you begin 2009  for real to consider if you want this year to be just the same as last year or whether it is time for a change…  There are a lot of self-help resources out there you could check out but there really is no substitute getting someone else to help you with this process: getting some new inputs and some fresh insights and challenges.

Good Luck!

“Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it.”

“Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.”  Neil Gaiman

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Ends, Beginnings and Continuations

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

I was thinking today about all the ideas and advice that we get at this time of year.  Reflect on the old year, celebrate its achievements, learn from our mistakes and make plans for the new year based on this review.  I can see the value in this and certainly intend to do some of it myself.  However, for all this, I think we also need to remember that we are in a continuity too.  One day slides into another and, in the midst of that, is the ever-present Now.

I know that physicists have some very clever ideas about the true nature of time, all of which go right above my head.  Whatever the reality is, it is a concept and construct, and as such, essentially a tool.  So we need to use it in the most helpful way possible.  Review, make plans, set goals, but don’t forget that the only time you can make any difference is Now. 

I wish you all a fabulous 2009, but if you want to make changes, Now is not only a good time to act, but the only time to act.

“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.”  Anais Nin

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