Happy New Year to everyone for 2024! I'm back after a true Sabbatical (one year away)! My monthly blog begins today, 1 January 2024. I considered publishing this at mid-month... but I couldn't allow this day to pass without reflecting on the passage of time in our lives. New Year's Day is just too amazing and dreamlike to allow to pass by without a comment.
A new beginning is a powerful time. And our culture has deeply imbedded today, specifically our western culture, as the day the new year begins. To me, it is ALWAYS a surreal time and I know many of you will feel exactly the same. In a sense, we know that today is no different than yesterday. That this year - 2024 - is no different than 2023 - but we also know that it really is. It is a time to reflect on the choices we made over the last 365 days. A time to reflect on the consequences of the decisions we made last year. A time to reflect on how we used our Agency - how we exercised our freedom to choose - and the circumstances and situations and opportunities that have opened or closed or in some way altered because of the choices we made. Did we make wise choices? Did we make decisions and choices that brought joy into our lives and rewarded or healed or saved or soothed the lives of someone close to us? Our family? Our friends? The strangers in our midst? Now is a time to reflect on the passage of time in our lives.
Remember when we were young - maybe only by five or ten years - or even twenty or thirty or even forty years - do you remember our perception of the passage of time then? Do you remember how slowly it passed and, in contrast, how much more quickly it is passing - now?
Now is a time - today - to reflect on where our lives have been - exactly where we are RIGHT NOW - and where it all will take us.
Right now is the time to take stock of our past, take a deep breath and acknowledge who we have become, and decide where we want to be - in a year from now - in five years from now. Because the choices we make today - the habits we develop and nurture - will influence where we will be and what - and how - we will be doing as the passage of time unfolds before us.
Listen to the Still Small Voice inside - patiently guiding - gently prompting - gradually healing - and deliberately stimulating the acquisition of wisdom in our lives.
The passage of time in our lives - our Time Passages - is a snapshot of our eternity. And the choices we make really do matter. Every day. Every moment. All the time.
I'd love to hear from you - any time at all.
Much Love to YOU.
Robin 'Mr. Discipline' Dover