How About Wiping The Slate Clean?

Everyone who gardens and even those of us who don’t, know: you have to prune your plants to keep them blooming, to keep them healthy. We pinch off the old to make room for the new. We want the life juice of the plant to stop nourishing that which is already dead, so we clip to make a clear space for fresh flowers and leaves.

We let go of the old to bring in the new.

And that, it seems to me, is the point of the New Year. Not the ball dropping in Madison Square Garden or the popping of champagne corks--even gathering with friends. Along with the festivities, we could take advantage of this auspicious time to say “goodbye” to  disappointments, bitterness, hurts and anger. Pruning our lives, we can gently release everything that we bear that is fruitless and dead.

Let’s think of opening our hands and hearts and just dropping those heavy bags that we have come to believe constitute a part of our identity. Let’s forgive everyone for perceived and actual slights and let’s forgive ourselves for all the ways that we might have, but didn’t, do things differently.

How about wiping the slate clean, getting rid of those rusty regrets and guilts? We don’t need them. What’s done is done. “Let’s not let our past poison our future.” (Joel Osteen)

 A clean slate all around: Imagine how wonderful that would feel!

I don’t want to carry old “stuff” into the New Year. Not only do I want to travel light, I want to travel with the light, watching for it, opening to it and following it, looking expectantly forward.

How about you? Happy New Year!
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Check out Unleash Potential, offering personal growth groups in Fairfield every third Thursday. Caroline J. Temple and Lisa Jacoby are the compassionate leaders of Unleash Potential and my companions on this journey of reflection and self-discovery. Call Caroline: 203 866 9331for the details of the workshops. Click here for general information:

http://www.unleashpotential.us/events/