Creating Our New World

We are stepping forward into a new year. I know for me, right now I am acutely aware of all of my ‘flaws’ – all of the parts of me that I wish were more evolved, more capable of being completely unafraid, less neurotic, more generous, and more able to experience gratitude and joy. It is as if I see my ‘old’ self with newfound clarity, but I don’t yet fully see the self I am becoming.

Like everyone else, I have my own weaknesses and shortcomings. I know that I am self-protective and tend to trust slowly. I do not open up and share deeply quickly. I can fall into worry about what will be, instead of focusing on and being grateful for the miracle of each moment as it occurs. I know that I feel safer when I am in control than when I am not. These qualities do not serve me. They do not help me feel gratitude and joy. They act as iron bars – a prison actually – around a new self that is attempting to be born.

How does the old form give way to a new being that is being birthed? How do we create out of what was, the new, like a baby, with its nascent, tiny and perfect fingers and fingernails, heart and lungs, eyes and eyelashes?

Somehow I get caught between the person I was, and the person I want to be and am becoming. Sometimes I feel I need help here, help to release my old ways and fully embrace who I want to be. Sometimes I feel that I need help moving from the person I was to the person I am becoming.

Each of us can choose to transition from the old world into the new one that awaits us, one that so depends on our intention: Our intention to be bigger than we have been, to do the right thing whether others are doing so or not, whether we are afraid or not. Our intention is to be aware, to hold compassion and gratitude, and to live by the compass of what we want the world to be, not the compass of conforming to what it already is or the compass of our habits and fears.

With our intentions, each of us contributes to the creation of reality. If you believe that sharing is important, then you contribute to that world. If you always take the best for yourself, then you contribute to reinforcing that world. If you believe the lies of others, then you contribute to a world where you are disempowered and tricked. If you hold others accountable, then you contribute to a world where people are accountable.

The qualities we align ourselves with emanate outward, contributing to the creation of our reality. What intentions do you hold for yourself as you step forward as the creator of your life and one of the many co-creators of the world?

What qualities will you choose? Here are some to consider.

• Compassion – I feel your pain and I care.
• Truth – I have no need to hide.
• Gratitude – This moment will never be again and I recognize and honor the sacredness of it.
• Accountability – I am willing to look at myself and correct my shortcomings.
• Courage – I do not take the safe and easy path. I take the right path.
• Equality – I treat you as I would treat myself.
• Generosity – I act out of what is for the greatest good for all, not just my own self-interest.

In order to transcend our flaws, we must be aware of them. In order to re-align to a new configuration of who we are, we must find our moral center. The question changes from ‘What about me,’ to ‘What can I do for the greater good of this situation.’ This question will reveal a new truth.

How do we go about this process?

As we begin a new year, the first step is willingness. We have to be willing to say that we want more, more of ourselves, more for our world.

Second, we have to be aware. We have to be able to see ourselves clearly and experience where we are weak. That includes the possibility of experiencing the pain and possibly the shame of how we have hidden or sold ourselves or others short.

Third, we have to communicate what it is that we want to change. This could be to another person, or simply be between ourselves and whatever our god or higher power is. This allows us to fully claim our desire to release the old and bring in a new way. As we do this, we are setting an intention. For example, we might say, ‘I intend to step out of allowing fear to influence my actions.’

Can you imagine what would happen if each and every one of us stepped out of our small self and embodied our larger and more actualized self? I know for me, that as I slowly untangle the smaller parts of myself and allow the ‘larger’ parts to emerge, I feel better about myself.

May 2012 lead us to a new connection to and gratitude for what is beautiful in each of us. May each of us release our ‘old’ and more crippled ways of being and find our generous and courageous selves, creating, as we step forward, a more beautiful and happier world for all.