Approaching New Beginnings

Today I continue to emerge from the east, the place of beginnings. At the beginning of the month I wrote a blog about a ritual at many Unitarian Universalist churches where you return in the Fall for another season of church and share with the minister and congregation from which direction you are re-entering the sanctuary, north, east, south or west. I had said I was firmly planted in the east because my life has been bursting open with new beginnings.

Well, I had another new beginning last night, I attended my first Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) class, and in this first class we were told by the teacher the main teaching point for the evening was "there is more right with you than wrong with you."  Isn’t that a fantastic principle to abide by when you are starting something new?  If we could all start from that perspective or attitude, wouldn’t our whole day just have a totally different feel to it? The cynicism. The pessimism.  The fatalism. All the isms would be knocked out of the water, or at least put to the side for a little while.

The MBSR’s teacher was a necessary reminder for me that the attitude I bring to life absolutely affects how I experience life, especially in the beginning of something new. If I were to internalize my MBSR teacher's words that “there is more right with me than wrong,” and for all other human beings as well for that matter, perhaps it could decrease the level of criticism and fear I can bring to life for both myself and others.  I might talk to myself with more kindness when I make a mistake at work or with my kids. Or I might let go of my little irritations with my husband when he does trivial things like leave his clothes all over the floor.  Or I might allow myself acknowledge the place of fear that comes up when the hospital administrator talks to our department about cutbacks and furloughs, and say, “it is out of my control.” 

I was reflecting on this very same thing this weekend as I re-listened to an “On-Being” NPR radio interview with Congressman and Civil Rights leader John Lewis. This was actually the third time I've listened to this particular interview because I just found it so inspiring. Mr. Lewis' attitude toward the hardship he has faced in life, which includes being beaten to the point of concussion during the marches in the Deep South in the 1960's, is truly phenomenal. He said in the interview: "hate is too big a burden to bear...[and when] you suffer, you can come out better, liberated." When I listened to those words I thought: “Wow. I know I am not that evolved, yet…”

He also put into words this level of faith that I honestly don't think I ever quite believed as fully as when he said it. He just kept repeating in the interview, "everything is going to be okay," and as I listened I found myself softening inside and outside and quietly saying aloud, "okay, I believe you."  How different would it be to approach something new and unfamiliar from a place of “everything is going to be okay?”

But for me the challenge is how do I hold on to these calming and hopeful messages for more than 24 hours? Or sometimes, 24 minutes?  How do I keep them with me? 

I think we need reminders.  Sticky notes with quotes and poems.  Songs on the CD player or playlist. Friends who just say inspiring and meaningful things in the midst of casual conversations. Daily morning readings by wise men and women whose words set the tone for the day. We need these frequent reminders because it is just too easy to forget sometimes with the push and pull of the day that in the end, “there is more right with you than wrong with you,” and the world too for that matter.

May you hold onto this message too as you initiate your own new beginnings.

I have also included today a poem by John O’Donohue that the MBSR teacher read to us at the closing of the class last night. It is also about, as you guessed it, beginnings. Enjoy!

For a New Beginning

In out of the way places of the heart
Where your thoughts never think to wander
This beginning has been quietly forming
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire
Feeling the emptiness grow inside you
Noticing how you willed yourself on
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.