06Jan

Bring Clarity to 2021

Close your eyes to see clearly. Be still and you will hear the truth. 
—Ancient Zen saying

Just a year ago, 2020 escorted in a new decade and with it, lots of clever rides on the metaphor wagon with “clarity,” “vision,” and “focus” arriving on January 1st, 2020.

We splashed about in a pool of constant stimulation, whizzing to and from work, shuttling kids to school and afternoons and weekends brimming with activities. Vibrating cell phones and packed Google calendars, dinners, concerts and dings of incoming texts, schedules on the swift moving conveyor belt of life and I, like many of you, believed I was seeing every day very clearly. 😊

And then, March 20th, 2020, Covid-19 became the “new” lens we attached to our vision. A global “shut in” took place, leaving bustling shops vacant, hushed the noisy movement of humanity, emptied cluttered freeways and shielded our faces. From the stillness of staying at home, our view of the world shifted and we adapted.

For the first time in over 30 years of providing therapy, I joined every client in a shared experience, each of us reacting to this changed universe. Individually we confronted how to manage risk and orchestrate more direct control of our time. The absence of “going out” equaled the inevitable focus on relationships with family members, our home environments, unfinished projects, neglected hobbies and friendship connections. As much as we were witnessing the unimaginable of Covid’s arrival, without the rigor of timelines and coming and going, our familiar vision was “closed” and we were quite shockingly, and perhaps gratefully, invited to see clearly, become still and find our truth.

Take a moment to consider what “truths” became clear to you during this past year. Here are a few of mine:

Savor health, it is not a given.
Practice joy and laughter, they are lifelines.
Distribute gratitude, the finest currency.
Water curiosity, wisdom will grow.
Excavate hope and patience, daily.
Love life completely, every moment.

Sending you an abundance of hope for a New Year filled with courageous clarity, enlightened truths and welcomed renewal!