I’m writing this weeks in advance, and so apologies if it is out of context, tone-deaf, or lacking important relevance or insight. It’s presently December 13th in my world (December 31st in yours), and this is my Delorean.
Welcome.
Call me Marty?
I once took a weirdly-intimate, wildly-unbelievable, nearly-private training with Martha Beck during which she invited the dozen of us present to do a little art project using the biggest wins of our lives. We drew them out and strung them together in chronological order, not unlike Christmas tree ornaments. Fancy jobs! Sparkly degrees! Milestones and trophies. Look at us! Victors (and Victorias) in the game of life.
And then?
Then she invited us to trace each of those sweet wins back a few steps, to the crap thing that happened before…
In order to get the great job, you had to be let go of the previous one because of lack of funds, or your boss’ preference for your pretentious, pearl-wearing colleague.
Just prior to receiving a scholarship for your dream degree, you were rejected from seventeen others.
You never would have completed the marathon had you not faced your addiction square in the eyes.
The ancient teaching that impermanence reigns and that nothing lasts forever comes closest as we arbitrarily flip the calendar from this year to next.
So often, we are encouraged to set goals, intentions, wishes for what the next 12 months might hold for us blithely disregarding what we know to be true - that mountain ranges are peaks and valleys, and most everything seems to have an equal and opposite reaction.
This is not to steal the wind from your sails if you’re at the top of the mountain. If you’re up there right now, just bask in it and stow this nugget for another time.
If you’re at a low point - or free falling - and curious just exactly what you did to start the tumble, I encourage you to stick a pin in this moment and return to it next year, when you will see what it made possible.
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