Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Elizabeth Lesser - everytime.

Via her FB page.  "This week between the holidays always throws me off kilter. I like routine; I like knowing what comes next, and so the “in-betweeness” of this week stirs up uneasiness, insecurity, bewilderment. But the “in betweenness” also makes it the perfect time to go within (if you can get away from kids on vacation, houseguests staying too long, family you are visiting, etc.) and ponder your New Year’s resolution. It takes a sense of bewilderment and insecurity to know what you want to let go of, and what wants to be born within you. It takes sitting in the discomfort of bewilderment long enough to ask yourself the deeper questions: What am I ready to release? What is calling to me? How can my own change contribute to a world that needs wise, kind, strong, awakened human beings? I make the writing of my New Year’s resolution a spiritual practice of sorts. The same thing happens every year. Right after Christmas I go into a weird mood, a slump, a confusion. I rattle around in my own head for a while, until I finally remember what this week is for. Finally I let myself rest in the discomfort of being “in-between” and I snatch some moments each day to contemplate what I want to let go of from the past year, and what I want to give birth to in the new year. I’ve been re-reading two books to help me frame my questions and resolution. Because I’ve been so upset about the state of affairs in our country, I’ve been studying Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s small masterpiece, Strength to Love. And because I am a devotee of the Sufi teacher, Hazrat Inayat Khan, I’ve been reading his book Mastery. I like re-reading books that have been important lights on the path—I always find something new, something clarifying. I hope you’ll take some time in the next days to find inspiration and to consider a resolution for the New Year. I’ll share what I come up with on New Year’s day."