Month: January 2016

I believe in the universe. And by that, I don’t just mean that I believe in space, galaxies, stars, and all that, but I believe that the universe is undoubtedly bigger than me. And, because of its utter vastness and its mysteriousness, I have found that it can work in truly wondrous ways.

But…

You have to be willing to listen. You have to be open to receiving the messages that are being sent to you in any number of ways.

I recently read Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert. Because, like most people in my demographic, I am still trying to eat, pray, love my way through life. And, I am desperately trying to become my fully formed creative self.

I loved the book. Encouraging, inspiring, and straight-shooting, I appreciated Gilbert’s attitude: get it together and create whatever it is you want and keep doing that.

Nearing the end of the book where I felt like I had generally been inspired enough and my creativity had gotten the green juice boost (apparently my creativity is a juicer) that it needed, I read this:

“My favorite meditation teacher, Pema Chödrön, once said that the biggest problem she sees with people’s meditation practice is that they quit just when things are starting to get interesting. Which is to say, they quit as soon as things aren’t easy anymore, as soon as it gets painful, or boring, or agitating. They quit as soon as they see something in their minds that scares them or hurts them. So they miss the good part, the wild part, the transformative part–the part when you push past the difficulty and enter into some raw new unexplored universe within yourself.” 

Well, I’ll be damned. I stopped meditating months ago because it felt stale and it was getting harder. And, I’ve been feeling guilty about stopping ever since. I read the passage two or three times. It felt as if it was written to me. For me. And though relevant to the overall theme of the book, it wasn’t exactly completely related–after all this wasn’t a book about meditation.

There were many interesting takeaways from the book, but that quote has not left my mind. I keep coming back to it. Thinking, turning it over, re-reading it, and realizing that I just read a book about encouraging your creative self and somehow…I found encouragement for my mindful self when I wasn’t even looking for it. 

New Year’s has always been an underwhelming holiday for me.  I know some of you will agree with me when I say that when you wake up the next morning (or, if you’re not doped up on Benadryl and passed out by 11 pm and somehow make it to the magic stroke of midnight)–it all kind of feels like the day before.

What’s all the hullabaloo about?

There is a lot of pressure, I find, around New Year’s and the impending future that the year could bring. If only we all had a handy fortune teller to read us that crystal ball.

I found myself the next morning seeing and reading fitness ads, announcements of resolutions, 21-day, month-long challenges, goals of all sorts. And mine started to formulate: be more mindful, write more, blog consistently, shop less (ha), practice yoga every day, meditate as much as possible, practice self-compassion, do more art, practice self-care (aka treat yo self regularly), etc., etc.

And then I stopped. And I remembered this:

“I have the ability to make my life magnificent every day and in every situation.”

So, that’s my resolution. To live, magnificently.

Happy New Year.