A sun-soaked breeze is brushing fiery leaves off of tall, strong trees as I write. The same breeze comes to mess up my hair, and I resist, forgetting the gold tinged blessing it is giving me.
There is so much I want to share today. I know you’ve noticed that we’re coming to the end of the (solar) year, a time known in the U.S. as “the holidays”. Personally I don’t think of these as The Holidays, but surely, there are some holidays coming up. I’m grateful for the time off in winter dark, and a season of hibernation in the northern hemisphere. It’s part of our circadian rhythm, and collective permission to sleep is something we may have never needed more.
But before we get there, in this particular moment there is also a year-end rush to accomplish a large amount of work before giving ourselves that permission to rest. I feel you. (I have a long list too, and I do feel satisfied when I check things off that multi-category list.) There may be a feeling of sprinting breathless to the finish line, knowing we may collapse later.
I hope you/we don’t.
I want you to meet your goals. I want you to feel satisfied with what you’ve done — for the world, for yourself, for your loved ones. I want that for myself too, of course. But I also want us to keep breathing in the middle of it all. I want us to find joy in the doing, breathe presence into the daily being. Today, instead of sitting at my desk at home to write this letter, I ventured into a café on this beautiful sun-drenched day, and the act of writing is pleasure and peace. It is connection and service, it is an offering and a ray of light between me and you. My joy is here, and so it is there, with you.
The other thing to remember is that it can take years to meet some goals. Many of us have big dreams and visions of our futures that we want to realize. These are beautiful, and necessary magnets pulling us forward towards magnificent horizons. But there will always be dreams, and goals, and lists. Sometimes we just have to pause, take a few relaxed breaths, and look back. How far have I come already? A long way. Did I inch towards my dreams? Yes. Was it hard and impossible at times? Yes. Did I get derailed and delayed many times? Yes. Did I pause and tend to the fires before me, and get back to what I cared about? Yes. Did I keep trying? Yes.
Another way to think about success is to start something. That might be the thing you care about deeply and have always wanted to do (write a book), or the thing you really need to do because it’ll be good for you (walk outdoors daily) or the thing you simply have to do because a lot depends on it - the right to vote, and ease of travel to see family (apply for citizenship). Take the first step. Begin. They often say that with big goals/dreams the biggest barriers are experienced in starting the thing. But once you begin, things flow. Sure, there may be future hurdles to cross, but as you keep increasing the distance from the starting line, you start to build the practice of doing it. And that momentum goes a long way in carrying things forward.
You can trust yourself. Your highest self is always oriented towards realizing your highest potential, and actualizing your reason for being. You can trust that. Pure being is bliss, and bliss is our essential nature, it’s in the DNA of the soul. You can trust that. Bliss is a state of peace and joy, a calm ecstasy. It can be present in a state of stillness or motion, being or doing. It is a quality of mind, heart, presence. You can follow that, wherever it leads you. The soul’s compass will always (re)find its path.
So keep going, finish your goals, check off the things on the list, but don’t forget to make each moment the greatest possible joy and peace, right here, right now, in the middle of it all.