Are some things getting better?
The Practice:
See progress.
Why?
There are always things that are getting worse. For example, over the past year, you probably know someone who has become unemployed or ill or both, and there’s more carbon in the atmosphere inexorably heating up the planet.
Happy May!
Can you believe it’s already May? The speed at which life is moving this year feels both rapid and slow at the same time. I, for one, am trying my darndest to hold that paradox. I don’t want others to aggressively push me head-on into a post-vaccinated world. I want to take my time to sit with the changes that are unfolding and listen.
I listened attentively this week to President Biden detail his sweeping historic plan to put our country back on track. It’s a huge agenda that includes tackling child poverty, racism, gun reform, police reform, climate change, crumbling infrastructure, and our own polarization. Biden ended his speech by reminding us that he needs all of us to play our part in saving our democracy, protecting our democracy, and showing the world we can all come together to do so. It’s time for us to take notice and get moving. I’m ready.
At the beginning of a new year we always feel the excitement of moving forward into a time where you have the opportunity to be happier, healthier and to have a better year than the last.
All the resolutions under the sun will not get you there - only your commitment to becoming the best version of who you are will reap the rewards of a better, more vital and rewarding life.
Forgiveness is the lynch pin upon which we all build our inner peace muscle.
If there is anyone in your life you have not been able to forgive yet, try sitting quietly for a moment and become mindful of how you feel when you think of that person.
Any emotion that takes you out of love has an adverse effect on your health and well being.
It is enlightened self-interest to place a forgiveness template into your heart and from the depths of the love that you are, forgive anyone who has pushed your buttons over the past 12 months.
"It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." —Sir Edmund Hillary
My friends, this first week of the new year took my breath away. I’m sure it took your breath away as well.
I could not believe my eyes as I watched lawless rioters smash windows and fight police as they broke into the U.S. Capitol. I could not believe my eyes as I watched a rioter break into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and sit with his feet up on her desk. The images that came tumbling out of D.C. on Wednesday enraged me. They shocked me, disturbed me, and took me aback.
I was, however, heartened by President-Elect Biden’s comments that this is not who we are. I really believe in my heart that he’s right. What we witnessed on Wednesday is not who we are as a nation. I don’t even believe it represents most of the 74 million Americans who voted for Trump. That said, I do believe Trump is to blame for the outrageous behavior that unfolded. The responsibility sits squarely with him, as well as with those who have used their platforms to incite, to lie, and to cause disruption. Words matter—I can’t stress that enough. Lives were needlessly lost. This was a tragedy and a disgrace.
Thank God his time is almost up. I cannot wait. It cannot come soon enough.
Welcome, 2021!
We have so many hopes pinned on this new year. It will take us a while to process and implement the vast need for social change and healing illuminated in 2020. Maybe in the past we’d say “that’s it” for last year and be quite glad to see it in our rear-view mirror. But this paradigm shift will require us to pause and take a deep respectful breath of hope knowing there is still a lot of patience and work still ahead as we traverse the in between time from what was to what will be.
The old way is being dismantled and being cleared away, and even if we’re not 100% where we hoped we’d be, we are still making room for more love, creativity, courage, compassion, hope…and joy. This and that will be true!
And, if there is one thing I know for sure.
How we consider and integrate the past has a huge impact on how we experience our future. “If we do what we did we’re gonna get what we got!”
At the start of this year, I found myself going on an organization tear quite unlike any I’d been on before. I felt an urge to clean up and clear out. To streamline and simplify. To bring order to all areas of my life.
The feeling came from a place deep within, and it felt different than it ever had before. (Yes, I’ve organized before.) When I told a friend, she said, “Maria, that makes perfect sense. You are trying to make room and space in your life for something new.”
“Aha!” I said to myself. “That’s it. That feels right.”
It felt like my desire was about something bigger than simply organizing. It felt like it was about getting grounded and balanced. Clearing out my physical space allows me to pave way for clearing out my emotional space. It helps me see what’s right in front of me so that I can ask myself, “What do I really want in my life? What can I remove, so that I can I make room?"
At the beginning of every year, there’s an energy that’s palpable where you feel such huge promise for newness, in every way. Yes, we all get to start again! YAY. Yoga, Pilates, promises to yourself to change your diet, let go of the old habits that messed you up the year before, start a prayer and meditation practice and quit sugar/alcohol/(fill in blank) for real this time, take some interesting classes you’ve always wanted to do. Everyone is raring to go. Success by design is inherent just in the words “new year”. The failures of yesterday can be erased on Jan 1. That is a big fat promise.
But not so fast. These are all worthy intentions but what if your old self, the one you’re trying to change is not willing to do the list in your hand. What if your old self is so invested in your identity of feeling shitty, lonely, hard done by, angry, etc. that it thinks your new ideas are just phooey and is determined to prove it to you?
Each year brings new lessons and opportunities for growth.
Each year you are given is a precious gift from the universe.
Each year is a new canvas that you get to create, a work of art that is your life.
It’s not the change of year that makes the difference but who you are being and what you bring to it.
So what will you bring to 2020 that was different than the year before.
And who will you be differently this year?
Join Panache Desai each weekday morning for support in reconnecting to the wellspring of calm and peace that lives within you and that has the power to counterbalance all of the fear, panic, and uncertainty that currently engulfs the world.
Designed To Move You From Survival and Fear to Safety and Peace. Available Monday - Friday. Meditation begins at 9 AM. Access early to hear Panache's monologue - around 8:30 AM.
