“This too shall pass” is a profound reminder of life’s transient nature. It’s a perfect reminder that, if 2024 was a challenging year, you’ve just passed the threshold into a new beginning. In our MEA curriculum, we focus on the three stages of a transition – the ending, the messy middle, and the beginning. Is it possible that 2024 was a time of endings for you, mixed with a messy middle in the latter part of the year? If so, January 1st came not a moment too soon.
The phrase has its origins in Persian and Jewish traditions and, along with its adoption into Western culture, underscores its universal relevance. By acknowledging the impermanence of our experiences, we can navigate life’s highs and lows with greater equanimity and appreciation.
Consider a simple ritual today. If you’re outdoors, find a large stick. If you’re indoors, place a piece of string on the floor. Stand with your eyes closed and think about what has ended in 2024 and the emotions you felt in your chrysalis-like messy middle. Take a deep breath and imagine that your painful life lessons are the raw material for your future wisdom and, in 2025, you can tap into that wisdom. Then, step over that stick or that string as an act of recognizing that era – 2024 – has passed and you’re now in the new beginning. I’ll end by offering one of my favorite poems which we end most MEA workshops with, John O’Donohue’s “For a New Beginning.”
For a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered, would you always live like this?
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
I earned my angel wings this past year. Did you earn yours? If not, 2025 can be your year! (thanks to Cookie Kinkead for this photo)
-Chip
P.S. With Jimmy Carter’s passing at 100, I dusted off a blog post about him I wrote almost two years ago when he was originally put into hospice. Imagine a President who left office at 56 and lived till 100: 44 additional years of life. He still had 54% of his adult life (if you start counting at 18) ahead of him when he left the most powerful job in the world. And, he was a consummate modern elder during those 44 years.