Hope and Intention in a New Year
This year ushers in a particular flavor of hope. Today in the US, a new administration takes over. Amanda Gorman, the inaugural poet spoke these powerful words to the nation and the world:
“For there is always light, if only we are brave enough to see it - if only we are brave enough to be it.”
Covid relief, limiting pandemic evictions, reengaging with climate action, blocking pipelines all offer me a tendril of hope. Maybe you are allowing yourself to imagine a horizon line beyond this pandemic. I am.
I’m devouring a book called The Five Invitations. In it, Frank Ostaseski writes about mature hope, which requires “both a clear intention and a simultaneous letting go.” He describes how hope “is in the potential for our awakened response, not in things turning out a particular way.”
I’ve been holding this energy of mature hope as I look into 2021. I do feel the old, familiar tug of “who could I become this year?” or “what might I accomplish?” Sure, who doesn’t want a reset in the shake up of a new year? But when I imagine the 2021 potential me, there is a particular outcome attached. I’m hoping for something specific.
What if, instead of looking out to an improved version of ourselves in 2021, we paid attention to what is right here in this moment? Take a breath right now. You don’t have anywhere to be, or anyone to become. Can you feel the tug of your own basic goodness? What clear intentions do you notice bubbling up in your life that are simply you turning towards your own wholeness?
Our intentions are alive in us and already occurring, moment to moment, with each action we take. Pay attention to what you are already doing and infuse it with conscious attention. Perhaps the work of a new year is simply to invite an awakened response to ourselves and our intentions.
Once you are paying attention to your intention, scale it to a size that fits. If you notice a pull to live more generously, pay conscious attention to how you are generous today. If you know being more present is nourishing you, pay conscious attention to how you are being present on your morning walk. If you are working on being kind to yourself, try to notice your self-kindness just for the meeting this afternoon that might be tough.
Later on, go back and check it out. How did it go? This isn’t a chance to give yourself a pass/fail grade. This is you learning from your experience. What might you need to pay attention to in order to keep living into your intention? How are you actually living into your intention in ways that you might not be noticing. Give yourself some credit and appreciation.
Maybe for this year drop the New Year’s resolution to do something spectacular or make a radical change. I’m not saying running a marathon or cutting out sugar might not serve you well. But what if we make space to be in touch with the intentions that are already alive and living through us? What might we find? Go ahead. Take a breath. Feel the goodness, already here, in you right now. It’s all there if we awaken to our clear intentions.
With love,
Liz
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