What’s the Pattern of Your Life Right Now?

I recently stumbled on a video of a presentation I gave at a new year’s event some years ago. At the beginning of the presentation, I invited people to remember where they were a year ago, in February 2012, which means the presentation took place in early 2013. At that time, “2013” was still hard to write in checks and felt weird. Now, “2013” feels old, normal, not weird, familiar.

It’s strange how hard it is to remember just how “new” feels. When it’s replaced with “familiar,” it’s almost as if we get amnesia about it. Similarly, if we are dealing with something new, like “2015”, then it’s hard to imagine what it will be like when 2016 rolls in and 2015 is as familiar as a favorite pair of worn in shoes.

At the risk of being trite, it’s about the cycles of life. Sometimes it’s useful to take a flight above ourselves, and see everything for what it is. So much of the time we are immersed–appropriately–in the urgency and intensity of “now” that rising above and seeing what we’re feeling so intensely as part of a larger pattern, rhythm or cycle is tricky.

But it is really important to do, time to time. Because in gaining some perspective, we empower ourselves in making the choices we’d really like to make about our lives.

The new year can be a good time to get this altitude. There are other times as well, and as mindfulness teachers remind us, the mature capacity to observe ourselves without judgement is essential to the happy, well-chosen life. But most of us can’t do this at the same level all the time, so it’s good, ritually, in community, to be able to do this.

What’s the pattern of your life right now? What’s happened recently, and what does that mean? What’s going on right now, and how much of that are you choosing? What is emerging, and how would you like that to manifest?

We all want a life that is congruent: one that is in alignment with our deepest sense of self, and the values that mean the most to us.

And, we get off course, inevitably. Old wounds from long ago and far away try to convince us that the past isn’t past and we need to defend ourselves from threats long gone. Family loyalties limit our sense of what is possible when it comes to love. Habits tell us that new discoveries aren’t familiar and can’t be integrated into our lives.

Take the time at this beginning to reflect, notice, and see if some other life energy might be present so that we can align our lives with what is most important to us.

There are lots of ways to do that, and one is coming up on Sunday: