A New Year"s Upgrade
"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning, but a going on with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
" Hal Borland When visiting with my best friend a few days before New Years, I was jolted by her words.
"This is not my favorite holiday of the year you know...
it never has been.
" The revelation stirred memories within me - the many years past when I would say goodbye to the old year two hours before midnight and fall asleep in the hopes that it would die more peacefully than it had lived.
There were also opposing memories - years when I stood in Times Square with the throngs of thousands, becoming more crunched with each passing minute and praying that the ball would drop before I was squeezed to death.
And then there were those many eves when I would be at a bar or club, longing for the right person to come along, yearning for the perfect partner - the other half - to show up - pop champagne - and take me to the promised land.
Listen to Auld Lang Syne and enter into the melancholy of old acquaintances brought to mind - and you will know just how empty one can feel as the end times come with but a whimper and all that's left is just another day with many of our friends and family and the memories therein scattered all over the globe.
Gaze at the streets filled with publicly depressed drunks and closeted opiate addicts who are searching for their own way to deal with another year come and gone - and listen to the hung-over shoppers wondering, in the words of Peggy Lee, if that's all there is.
Reflect on everyone partying and pretending to enjoy, when all that most of the revelers long for is someone to say I LOVE YOU - JUST AS YOU ARE.
THERE IS NOTHING YOU NEED TO DO BUT RECEIVE AND BE GRATEFUL.
As I turned 57 years old on December 28th, I believe my friend's honest confession reveals what most would say in their moments of sobriety - that the turning over of another year is just not what it's cranked up to be.
In fact, it's a lot of chasing of one's tail if you ask me.
And added to the chase is the insanity of making the same resolutions each year thinking the outcome will change.
One more year brings one more commitment to go to the gym, to eat right, to stop drinking, and so forth and so on.
You can fill in the blanks with your own never- ending soap opera promises.
But please don't take me cynically.
I share these thoughts with you because they confirm my friend's honesty; there are many reasons to find this particular holiday the least favorite.
Trust me.
For many of us, Christians or not, Christmas itself would be a downer were it not for the gifts that give us a jolt - a rush that lasts roughly 7 days - just in time to be down for the count -10-9-8...
3-2-1...
Happy New Year's we say with a smile that pains most of us to make.
So I have concluded that perhaps we should just all go down together.
Let's face it.
It's another year that has opened its' doors to us - another 4 seasons filled with both sadness and joy - another 12 months that will rock us to sleep one night and leave us deserted the next - another 365 days of making a difference in the lives of so many people and making a mess in the lives of so many others - several thousands of minutes during which we will make some awesome choices as well as some lousy investments - financially and emotionally.
We will carry on with our lives - such as they are and if we are fortunate and somehow awakened from our drunken stupors, we will do so through a deeper reflection on those habits we've cultivated over the years - habits that are life giving and those that are not.
And we might just gain an ear with the gods of spiritual chiropractors just long enough to get an adjustment so that we can live more peacefully in this stormy world - and enjoy both swimming in the sun and dancing in the rain.
Perhaps this is the year to avoid resolutions.
Why not upgrade instead.
Let's upgrade our spirits and become more reflective over the next few days.
Let's pray over the words of Hal Borland, "Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning, but a going on with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
" This can be the year when we indeed receive the unconditional love that is offered beyond all pain and evil, and accept that ultimately, in the words of the early followers of Jesus, where CHARITY AND LOVE PREVAIL, THERE IS GOD.
With such a renewed awareness, the judgments, pursuits, prejudices and self-destructive choices just might diminish.
We'll discover without much seeking that the greatest upgrades are free for the asking - gifts that are rooted in the tradition of our greatest teachers - those many recovering alcoholics who meet across the nation in church basements, sharing their peace through the hallowed prayer "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
" With the acceptance of these free upgrades, I am willing to bet that come next New Year's Eve, we just might be resting instead of searching to change, savoring instead of vomiting, and enjoying instead of regretting the memories we are about to create.
" Hal Borland When visiting with my best friend a few days before New Years, I was jolted by her words.
"This is not my favorite holiday of the year you know...
it never has been.
" The revelation stirred memories within me - the many years past when I would say goodbye to the old year two hours before midnight and fall asleep in the hopes that it would die more peacefully than it had lived.
There were also opposing memories - years when I stood in Times Square with the throngs of thousands, becoming more crunched with each passing minute and praying that the ball would drop before I was squeezed to death.
And then there were those many eves when I would be at a bar or club, longing for the right person to come along, yearning for the perfect partner - the other half - to show up - pop champagne - and take me to the promised land.
Listen to Auld Lang Syne and enter into the melancholy of old acquaintances brought to mind - and you will know just how empty one can feel as the end times come with but a whimper and all that's left is just another day with many of our friends and family and the memories therein scattered all over the globe.
Gaze at the streets filled with publicly depressed drunks and closeted opiate addicts who are searching for their own way to deal with another year come and gone - and listen to the hung-over shoppers wondering, in the words of Peggy Lee, if that's all there is.
Reflect on everyone partying and pretending to enjoy, when all that most of the revelers long for is someone to say I LOVE YOU - JUST AS YOU ARE.
THERE IS NOTHING YOU NEED TO DO BUT RECEIVE AND BE GRATEFUL.
As I turned 57 years old on December 28th, I believe my friend's honest confession reveals what most would say in their moments of sobriety - that the turning over of another year is just not what it's cranked up to be.
In fact, it's a lot of chasing of one's tail if you ask me.
And added to the chase is the insanity of making the same resolutions each year thinking the outcome will change.
One more year brings one more commitment to go to the gym, to eat right, to stop drinking, and so forth and so on.
You can fill in the blanks with your own never- ending soap opera promises.
But please don't take me cynically.
I share these thoughts with you because they confirm my friend's honesty; there are many reasons to find this particular holiday the least favorite.
Trust me.
For many of us, Christians or not, Christmas itself would be a downer were it not for the gifts that give us a jolt - a rush that lasts roughly 7 days - just in time to be down for the count -10-9-8...
3-2-1...
Happy New Year's we say with a smile that pains most of us to make.
So I have concluded that perhaps we should just all go down together.
Let's face it.
It's another year that has opened its' doors to us - another 4 seasons filled with both sadness and joy - another 12 months that will rock us to sleep one night and leave us deserted the next - another 365 days of making a difference in the lives of so many people and making a mess in the lives of so many others - several thousands of minutes during which we will make some awesome choices as well as some lousy investments - financially and emotionally.
We will carry on with our lives - such as they are and if we are fortunate and somehow awakened from our drunken stupors, we will do so through a deeper reflection on those habits we've cultivated over the years - habits that are life giving and those that are not.
And we might just gain an ear with the gods of spiritual chiropractors just long enough to get an adjustment so that we can live more peacefully in this stormy world - and enjoy both swimming in the sun and dancing in the rain.
Perhaps this is the year to avoid resolutions.
Why not upgrade instead.
Let's upgrade our spirits and become more reflective over the next few days.
Let's pray over the words of Hal Borland, "Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning, but a going on with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
" This can be the year when we indeed receive the unconditional love that is offered beyond all pain and evil, and accept that ultimately, in the words of the early followers of Jesus, where CHARITY AND LOVE PREVAIL, THERE IS GOD.
With such a renewed awareness, the judgments, pursuits, prejudices and self-destructive choices just might diminish.
We'll discover without much seeking that the greatest upgrades are free for the asking - gifts that are rooted in the tradition of our greatest teachers - those many recovering alcoholics who meet across the nation in church basements, sharing their peace through the hallowed prayer "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
" With the acceptance of these free upgrades, I am willing to bet that come next New Year's Eve, we just might be resting instead of searching to change, savoring instead of vomiting, and enjoying instead of regretting the memories we are about to create.
Source...