A New Years Blessing

This winter solstice I unplugged from everything on a personal retreat at Wilbur Hot Springs. Settling into an unhurried pace with hours of silence each day renewed my soul. Luxuriating in the steamy hot mineral springs, hiking on mud slicked trails in the rain, and sharing yummy food and conversation with a good friend was deeply nourishing. 

What an auspicious way to start a new year, with self care and pleasure leading the way. I also spent days cleaning out old computer files and tying up loose ends in preparation for receiving the new year to come.

My sense about last year, from my own experience and working with many amazing clients, is that many of us were in limbo for a lot of 2012. Transformation requires us to let go of the known, to be in limbo, so finally something new can emerge. 2012 seemed like long stretches of limbo, where we weren’t where we used to be, and also not where we are going to be. This gave us time to weed out what we were done with, consciously fertilizing the soil of our future with love, and plant seeds for what is emerging. For a lot of us it felt like hard work. 2013 feels like less of a homework assignment and more of a creative adventure. Phew!

I want to share a beautiful poem that my beloved cousin, Gina Covina, posted in a recent blog:

Winter Solstice Prayer

God of All Creation,

We thank you for darkness, for the rain and snow and longest night.

We thank you for loss. With gratitude and forgiveness, we let go of everything no longer needed, of every part of the past that must go in order for the new world to enter.

We forgive the past, all of it, and let it fall away as this cycle ends.

We turn to the light now with open arms.

We open our hearts in this new year and new world to the expanding circle of love that surrounds us.

We give thanks for our place in the web of life, and for the daily strengthening of our conscious connection with all living beings.

We give thanks for our community — both local and global — of like-minded souls, as together we renew our commitment to a world of cooperation, respect, and celebration of all life.

(Read more at The Laughing Frog Farm Blog)

May our blossoming into the new year be filled with joy, passion and purpose,

Jane