Beginning the new year with a grateful sense of anticipation. . .
Being grateful is a decision. Anticipating the good that will undoubtedly “wear our name” is also a decision. In fact, every experience in one’s life is an opportunity to say “yes, I am happy this particular experience has paid a visit.” Each one is always meant for our good; for our growth; for our eventual use with the many other people who will cross our path.
I was certainly not “a believer” in the concept of acceptance before becoming a member of the fellowship. It wasn’t lost on me that every idea I had ever cherished now needed to be up for re-consideration when I wandered into the fellowship. And then embracing acceptance of each experience didn’t happen instantly. In fact, resistance is what felt more natural to me. Perhaps I wouldn’t have continued in the program if I had realized in the beginning how much my life would eventually, and quite necessarily, change. Like so many, the idea of change stirred strong emotions in me.
The beginning of each new year is the right time to measure how far we came in the year that just closed. Seeing where we were and what we accomplished strengthens our resolve to continue our foreword trek. As the new year opens, it’s the right time to set our intentions for where we want to go next. I have come to believe that if we have no goal in mind, we will flounder and then discover, perhaps many months later, that we don’t like how our life has unfolded. It falls on us, and only us, to chart our course. That’s both the good and the bad of the idea.
As I look to 2013 I know I want to continue offering workshops throughout the country based on fellowship ideas as well as the ideas expressed in many of my books. Actually, those that I write about are very consistent with what I have learned in my many decades in the fellowship. It feels good to “practice” what I preach. It feels good to be living consistently. It feels good to be as authentic as it’s humanly possible to be. And it feels good to have made the decision, once and for all, to believe in a Higher Power’s presence every minute of every day. All the doubt that used to plague me has dissipated. Uncertainty, which used to be my constant companion, haunts me no more. No more. Can you say the same? If you can’t, now is the right time to have a chat with your Higher Power. Invite Him/Her to make herself known. Now. And then say thank you.
