January 4, 2022
Trust In The Way Things Are
By Amba Gale
Have trust in the way things are and are not.
Love the world, and others, and yourself.
Then, you can live in peace.
By Amba Gale
Perhaps I would not say “Happy New Year to you” this year so much. For that phrase, always said at the beginning of the next year, becomes a cliché, and without any created intention, and thoughtful blessings behind it, means nothing. Clichés have a way of putting us to sleep.
Not only that, if you are like me, thinking it, or speaking it brings up the mind at this time. And, according to the mind, it is NOT a happy new year. For the mind is filled with expectations, hopes, desires, and attachments for what could be, what should be, and what’s not right, which is, well, pretty much everything.
So, all in all, consider the possibility that saying “Happy New Year” this year wants to be re-examined, especially if it’s a habit.
What would I say, and do, instead? I would STOP. I would breathe, deeply. I would take some time to deepen my practice for going inward and counting my blessings. Yes, I know, perhaps another trite phrase. But if you think of blessings as gifts of Life to Life, gifts that have been given to you and bring your inner, cultivated sense of gratefulness to the conversation, the perspective shifts, like a slight change on the kaleidoscope. Suddenly, you are no longer hungering for what you don’t have, but are receiving the blessing of what you do. Here, little things matter, like the beauty of the icicle appearing in the morning from the top of your roof, like the eggs that your daughter made for you are warm today, like the snow on the trees weighing down the boughs, like the dog licking your hand, like your well – being practices are supporting you, like observing the little footprints in the snow going up your driveway, or like noticing that you are ALIVE! After a while, you come to see, just perhaps, there are no little things. Only things that matter, that bring you and your life meaning.
And, ultimately, and this is the greatest gift of all, the gift of trust. Experiencing it all as a gift, you start to trust the world.
As a practice, for moving into this state of being, try this on: let go of your expectations.
Can you do this? See what they are and see if you can simply let them go. Always accompanied by the word “should,” (“should” be, “should” do, “should” have), they are a sure fire way to wake up disappointment, which is on the other side of that coin. Let them go. They are a source of unhappiness.
Letting go of my expectations, I live in peace. May you have a Peaceful New Year.
Greeting Each Day as a Gift
By Amba Gale
Through the wall
of frozen water,
I see the earth behind,
shimmering, singing of life,
as the icicle drops from my roof.
I can barely see it, hear it,
dim as it is.
Like the icicle,
behind the ice of these wintry days,
hard have we become.
May our own hearts,
warmed
by the winter sun climbing north
in these early January days,
as the melting ice drips slowly,
peek out
tenderly,
gingerly,
caringly,
greeting each day as a gift,
a new year,
revealing
the sights and sounds
of a loving earth.
