Today, these last hours of the year, feels sacred to me. I'm savoring moments of quiet and still–part of Winter's gift. And, I'm also looking at the gifts brought this past year and how I can continue to grow into the next. Below, I'm sharing some lessons that I'm learning as 2013 evolves into the following year. Peace and Joy to you in 2014.
Some of the truths–truths to me–which I am continuing to learn:
Fear is synonymous with ego.
So is "futurizing."
When I fear something, when I fear anything, in "the future," when I obsess with the yet unborn tomorrows, the "what if's" or, "How in the hell am I going to get all that, and that AND that done?!") I am stepping into my ego.
To become a clear vessel, an instrument of the Divine Mystery, where my talents can be used for the highest best for myself and all those around me, it takes stepping out of time-centric, fear-based ego-self.
Stepping into the ego, will trip me up, stall me, every time.
So, Step One: SURRENDER….
I remember very clearly a message I received in 2007, a pivotal and very promising year in my life: "Be okay with the not knowing."
Few of us, on our own, can 100 percent predict the outcome of the very next moment. It takes surrendering the egoic fears that sometimes clench our guts and hearts and rob us from the visceral experience that we only have this present moment. From this moment, we can choose the next best step for our highest best and the highest best of all of those around us.
You see, in 2007, that year of such promise, my ego became entangled in the story that I chose to create and I failed to surrender and listen to my inner voice and made choices that would not serve me or those around me for the highest best. Today, I surrender to the lessons that "the west," the place of challenge, the cold north winds, just as indigenous people have known for centuries. The west, the bearer of "adversity"–in nature and in the rest of life–brings opportunities to learn.
Going forward, may I choose to surrender. To continue to become a clear vessel/channel for the energies to use what I have been given to create my highest best for myself and all those around me. And if this, too, is your truth, may these choices be so for you.
Namaste.
Photo: Grayton Beach, Fla., December 2013, ©LeisaHammett.com
We love Grayton Beach. As a family we left Christmas day and headed for a little cottage on Tybee Island. It was wonderfully gray and windswept and quiet this time of year and I DID NOT want to go home. It is a trick to balance surrendering and goal-setting. But I think it’s possible. Maybe? Happy New Year Leisa.
Jamie, I love that you all went to Tybee and I love your description. I have found myself wishing I could have ended the holiday there instead of the other way around–starting it out there.
I’m still wrapping my head around new paradigms with my spiritual mentor about all of this. Here’s a stab: Clear the emotional clutter that holds you back from using your gifts for service. And once you know what it is that you are called to do, surrender to the outcome.
Happy New Year, Jamie. I was just thinking of you today and wishing to spend some time with you.