Happy 牛Year

Here I am in Lanzhou, Gansu, China on New Year's Day 2009. The New Year of any culture or tradition is such a wonderful symbol of turning over a new leaf, of taking pause to reflect and bring oneself to account and to set new goals and directons.

I would like to sustain my New Year's resolution blog posting tradition in which I take stock of the previous year and consider what I would like to focus on for the next. Last year I resolved to strive for the following attributes in my life:

independence
strength
severance
FAITH
patience
calm
stillness
ZEAL
courage
energy
enthusiasm
purity of heart, mind, motive, intention
DISCIPLINE
focus
knowledge
discernment
and JOY

Quite an extensive list and, reflecting on the past year, I really did consciously strive to acquire most of these attributes and states of being. Actually I printed out this list and stuck it up on my computer monitor so that I could return to it for inspiration and focus when necessary.

How interesting it is to me that after just one year my world and future look so different. While I still wish to keep working on last year's list of attributes, new capacities seem to emerge as more urgently necessary as I contemplate the adventures in store for me this year. The first that come to mind are as follows...

LOVE

magnanimity

generosity (of spirit, material wealth and TIME... "when there is love there is always time")

graciousness

tenderness

affection

BEAUTY

magic and romance

loyalty

commitment

respect

encouragement

illumination ("day by day become ye more illumined")

industriousness

cleanliness and order