The New Year

This year has been very challenging for people across the world.  People have lost livelihoods, and some have lost loved ones.  As the normal reaction, in social media we can see so many bidding a spiteful goodbye to 2020, casting a hopeful eye on the new year.

At a closer look though, we find that it’s indicative of an egoic reaction.  Whether it’s a global pandemic or a personal crisis, this is how the ego reacts.  It condemns the circumstances, sees itself as the victim, and struggles against unfolding events.  In today’s society, this is deemed as obviously normal – why would anyone in their right mind react differently… but really, this is a contraction of the personal self against the unfolding of natural events.  Life is happening, and we need to get in tune with it, and flow with it, irrespective of our personal or societal biases.

There is a more spiritual perspective which many people do hold, despite what we may see in mainstream media.  Rather than contracting against current happenings, what if we opened up to it?  Yes it is a painful time but what if we opened up to the pain?  What if we asked for the opportunity to grow instead of shrink?  It comes down to why we believe we are on this planet.  Is it to simply to surround ourselves with as much comfort as possible, or is it to flower into a full-fledged life?  Painful times are opportunities to rise to the occasion, not sulk in resistance and complaint.

Many are finding that 2020 was a kind of forced retreat.  Before this, perhaps we would never have set the time aside to look at what’s really driving our lives, and what’s really important.  Life seemed to move at such a fast pace, we were just trying to keep up.  But this year we were forced to slow down.  This gave many people the time to reconsider their priorities.  People have changed their habits – to be much more environmental for example, or their pursuits – to get into new business areas that really interest them, rather than just for the paycheck.  Creative endeavors are up too, as people finally had the time to explore their inner talents.

People will say that we are part of this universe but the truth is more profound than that.  We are this universe and everything that is happening within it.  We can either awaken to that or choose to identify ourselves to this limited, temporary physical existence.  Whether times are good or bad, as defined by convention, we are greater than any of that.  We are so much more than today’s news.  We are here to master our internal existence in the face of external reality.  In fact, what is happening externally is always an aid to that path, the question is only whether we recognize it as such or not.

Here is a related article: https://celebrateyoga.org/reframing-suffering/