New Beginnings!
New Beginnings
June! It is a time for summer vacations, weddings, graduations, and for endings and beginnings.
Some years ago, on my 50th birthday, my husband gave me an exquisite cloisonne pendant of a dancing figure, arms up over her head in joy titled by the artist, “new beginnings”. My beloved knew exactly what I needed to lift my spirits as I reached that major milestone. I felt like my youth had ended and something else was taking its place…a new chapter in life.
With each year that passes, new milestones are reached, and new discoveries abound. Yet, to get to the new, very often we must release some of the old. When I left my job leading a wonderful hospice many years ago, I wasn’t certain about what was ahead for me. But once I began to have the time and grace for some “breathing space” to just relax, all manner of ideas and inspirations revealed themselves to me, and The Watershed Group was formed.
When our heads are down, doing the day-to-day work of making a living, it’s hard to see beyond our headlights. Having the courage to look out beyond the horizon into the darkness, to dream a big dream is exciting and frightening. Stepping out to leave our comfy spot of familiarity is not easy. And yet, growth only happens when we release the known and trust in our next leap of faith.
I love this teaching from one of my mentors Leland Kaiser:
EVERY ENDING IS A NEW BEGINNING
Whatever you are doing now - it will have an ending.
The nice thing about endings is - they enable new
beginnings.
If you don’t like your present life situation, you don’t
have to stay attached to it.
Just put a period at the end of your
current life experiences and bring this chapter of your
life to a close.
Get ready to write a more exciting chapter
tomorrow. All you must do is employ this
punctuation mark that signifies completion.
A period indicates the old is finished.
A period signifies the new can now begin.
It is easy to stay attached to something even though it no
longer benefits you.
The path of unrewarding effort is well-traveled.
You can easily fall into a rut and stay there.
After all, doing nothing is often…the path to passivity and death.
It takes courage to bring the old to a close.
It takes imagination and effort to create the new.
You are the author of your life.
The previous chapters you have written do not restrict
your future directions unless you allow them to do so.
A new chapter is an opportunity for new beginnings.
Use your creativity and imagination.
Be outrageous! Set out in new directions!
As summer is unofficially here, where do you want to put a period to end the old and begin the new? What outrageous thing do you want to do this summer? What are you waiting for?!
Have fun!
Love and Light,
