ANOTHER NEW YEAR

Today I began another “new year”. Each birthday makes me take a look at where I am as opposed to where I might like to be. But, if I am honest, I need to take into consideration that Spirit placed me where I am to continue to learn and grow in this moment, no matter what came before or what comes next. The present is a precious gift. It is the only moment I can live in fully. It is God’s gift of grace in this and all moments that allows me to unfold and expand at my own pace, according to my own emotional and spiritual timetable.

My “new year” is successful if I view it that way, if I recognize it as a brand new opportunity to pursue cherished goals and dreams, and to look forward to increased joy and fulfillment. It’s a new year to love myself just a little bit more tenderly, forgive myself just a little more easily, and cut myself slack even though self-criticism may come more easily. I have grown enough to know that to be self-critical is to refuse to accept myself. And I’m certainly not going to be likely to forgive and accept others exactly as they are if I do not accept myself.

When Max Ehrmann wrote Desiderata in the 1930’s he expressed it this way, “Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself.” “Gentle” is the key word: gentle in thought, gentle in deed, gentle in the way we walk upon the earth, gentle in all pursuits of the heart. This “new year” I vow to love myself more gently.