Each new year is an opportunity to start afresh. This is supported by the transition from December to January—the turning of the calendar from 2021 to 2022, and by our own inclination to leave behind what is no longer serving us and to choose the next best steps in our life. Every year I like to re-affirm these four intentions written many years ago by Deepak Chopra.

•    I want a joyful, energetic body.
•    I want a loving, compassionate heart.
•    I want a restful, alert mind.
•    I want lightness of being.

As you can see, these intentions move from body, emotions, and mind to spirit. These are the domains of consciousness where pure awareness takes form as sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts. There is a flow that is natural to everyone’s life, and what you are intending here is to replace resistance, disorder, effort, and struggle with an easier way of living.

If you already meditate or pursue your own inner practice, you can add the four intentions at the end of your session. Place your attention on your heart. Repeat the first intention and let the intention find its place in you. Return your attention to your heart as you move through each intention.

May these four intentions bless your life with satisfaction, joy and peace.

The page was as white and pristine as when I purchased the calendar late last year. How strange to turn the page and see absolutely nothing on my schedule for the week! We had planned, then canceled, a trip so now I literally had nothing I had to do. I opened to potential, possibility, curiosity.

The blank page coincided with the end of one year and the beginning of a new one. There are those who say there is no significance in a week unless we make it so. And there is much truth in that. But there is a reason why people all over the world celebrate the turning of the dates with both festivity and reflection.

I was reminded of Father Time and Baby New Year. Father Time marches on and he will keep going no matter what the date on the calendar says. But dropped into that ongoing saga is Baby New Year—so plump and happy, so filled with potential, possibility and curiosity.

Take a blank page and consider doing one or both of these reflections this week:

WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR FUTURE SELF If you could write a letter to yourself six months from now, what would you say? Please don’t fall into the trap of commanding her/him to have completed so many tasks by July 1st. Instead, what are your hopes, dreams and wishes for yourself in six months. You might be delighted by the person who are striving to become.

MOVE 2021 INTO 2022 Draw a line down the center of your blank page. On the left side list the things you are most proud of from 2021, the things that brought you joy and satisfaction, and the lessons you have learned. See which of the items from 2021 you wish to carry over into 2022. Draw a line with an arrow onto the right side of the page for each one you want to expand. How are you going to engage with these things in the year ahead?

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIEND! May the year unfold for you with peace, love and joy.

This time of year it can be so challenging to take good care of body, mind and spirit. And that’s not good! At the very same time we are heading into cold and flu season in the midst of a world-wide pandemic. If there was ever a great time to be take care, that time is NOW.

But, oh my, contemporary times do not make it easy: the body is accosted by rich food and hectic schedules; the mind is stressed by pressures to spend time with people in uncomfortable social situations; and the spirit is saddened by platitudes of peace, love and joy that are rarely put into practice. Now is the time to step up the self care!

STEP UP FOR THE BODY by sticking to a regular routine. This can be tricky because of the many temptations to eat seasonal foods and stay up too late. Remember the 80/20 rule: As long as you’re living right 80% of the time, you can waver 20% of the time. It might be more or less for you but figure it out and you’ll be happier and healthier in your body.

STEP UP FOR THE MIND by knowing which people and situations cause you stress. Your first thought may be to avoid them, but that’s not always an option, especially at the holidays. Here are two steps you can take: 1) sit quietly and imagine yourself in the situation or talking to the difficult people taking note of the thoughts and emotions that are triggered. Take a few deep breaths to return to the present moment before going on to step 2) revisit the situation as an observer, almost like a fly on the wall who watches the people and activity as if it were a movie. Notice how your mind conjures up very different thoughts and emotions when you are an observer rather than a participant. See if you can bring this new attitude into the stressful situation you have been dreading.

STEP UP FOR THE SPIRIT by marking the season with a meaningful ritual. There are many opportunities to do this at the Winter Solstice, one of the many holidays celebrated in December, or the start of the New Year. You can make it fancy by collecting crystals, flowers, essential oils or scented candle, or you can make it plain with simply paper and pen. Look over the past year and make a list of the challenges you’ve faced, the ways you have grown, what you want to let go of, and what you want to embrace for the new year. Sit reflectively with what you uncovered. Give gratitude for this past year and all the good that is coming your way in 2022.

I notice the themes of peace, love and joy showing up throughout the holiday season. These are great sentiments to share during the holidays and throughout the year.

PEACE I am reminded of the words of Thich Nhat Hanh who said, “There is no way to peace; peace is the way.” We should not wait for some spiritual teacher or government leader to create peace in the world. All peace begins with us—in our hearts, in our words and in our actions.  

LOVE Just this week I read these words by Mohanji: “Whenever negative thoughts plague your mind, whatever its causes are, step back and think for a moment ‘Is this what I choose to park in my sacred space?’ I bet you will want nothing to do with those negative thoughts. Instead, park love in your sacred space permanently.” Can it be that simple to remind ourselves that we want ourselves to be expressions of love in all we think, say and do? Yes, it can be that easy.

JOY This quote from Buffy Sainte-Marie should make you smile: “You have to sniff out joy. Keep your nose to the joy trail.” So much of information flowing toward us these days is not good news and if we get caught up in it we will most certainly lose track of our joy. Let’s keep our focus on that trail of joy by expressing gratitude for all that is good and beautiful in our lives and in the world.

HERE’S A PRACTICE FOR YOU
Find a comfortable place to sit where you won’t be disturbed for 10 minutes.
For about a minute settle down and simply breathe in and out.
For two minutes, breathe in peace and breathe out peace.
For two minutes, breathe in love and breathe out love.
For two minutes, breathe in joy and breathe out joy.
For two minutes, choose one of the three and breathe in and breathe out.
For the last minute, observe how you feel in your body, mind and emotions and make an easy transition into the rest of your day.

We all know how wonderful it is to have healthy physical digestion. We just feel better about ourselves and about life, am I right? But Yoga and Ayurveda teach that it is even MORE important to have healthy mental digestion. Here’s why:

There is a quote attributed to Henry Ford (the car guy!) which says it well:
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t—you’re right.”

The mind has the power to shape our attitudes and our actions. The mind decides if we’re having a good day or a bad day. The mind chooses to listen to and believe certain things, often to the exclusion of many other things which may be just as valid. Just as amazing, what goes on in the mind affects even how we feel in our body. Wow!

Now that you know how important it is to digest thoughts and emotions, here are a few ways to cultivate healthy mental digestion:

Pay attention to the ways your thoughts and emotions affect your body. Do you get sick to your stomach when a fear arises? Maybe a familiar pain returns when you have a difficult conversation with a friend? Seeing the relationship between body and mind is a good first step in noticing when you’re not digesting well.

Process your thoughts and emotions through writing or conversing with a trusted friend. Could you have handled a situation differently? What did you learn from what you endured? Have compassion for yourself and for what it means to be human.

Seek out other perspectives. Just like the body needs a variety of foods with lots of spices to keep physical digestion healthy, the mind needs a variety of views from people who see the world quite differently. Liberals need to listen to conservatives, conservatives need to hear liberal views, and all of us need to open our hearts to people from other parts of the world.

Get your 6-8 hours of sleep every night. Yoga and Ayurveda teach that our mental digestion happens most easily while we’re asleep. No one really know for sure, but maybe this is why we dream! What do you think?

Who doesn’t want healthy digestion? You just feel better, happier, lighter when you are digesting well. Maybe you even sleep more soundly and smile more too.

Compliments of Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of healthy living, here are some suggestions for healthy digestion, just in time for the season of eating:

Eat food that has been prepared with joy since the energetic flow makes it move through your system more happily.

Eat in the company of friendly people or eat quietly by yourself without the distraction of media or unpleasant conversation.

Add spices to your food to help your body digest it more easily. If you’re only using salt and pepper, you’re missing out! Spices that especially aid digestion are cumin, coriander, fennel, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger and mint.

Stop eating when your stomach is about half full. Nothing good ever comes from overeating. Enough said.

Go for a short, leisurely walk after eating. Bonus: If you have time to do so, it also helps to lie down on your left side for 10 minutes before taking your walk.

Eat at least two hours before bed so that the first stages of digestion are complete before you lie down to sleep.

Take this information into the holidays and you’ll be sure to have a happy, healthy body moving into the new year!

Did you know that our conscious mind only makes up 5% of our thoughts and behaviors, while our unconscious mind controls 95% of our thoughts and behaviors? Granted, a good portion of the unconscious mind controls things we don’t want to remember, like breathing, heart rate and digestion, but that’s still a lot of stuff we’re not aware of. What we’re not usually aware of are the habits of mind and action that put us on automatic pilot during the day. Automatic behavior can be a great thing when it involves giving yourself positive affirmations and going for a walk every day. But it can also involve things that are not at all good for you.

Consider for a moment what happens when you’re under stress. Do you eat unhealthy food? Go shopping online? Binge watch television? Spend hours on social media? Go back to bed? Scream at someone? Lament all the ways your life is not going the way you want it to go?

Practicing Yoga is one of the ways to become more aware of thoughts and behaviors. This is called “mindfulness” or “present moment awareness.” In that moment of awareness the unconscious becomes conscious. And once you are aware, you can make better choices.

Take a few minutes right now to think about your usual response to stressful situations. Consider both thoughts and actions. Is this the way you really want to deal with life? What could you do instead that would help you be the person you know you truly are? Now you are aware! The next time you feel the tug toward unconsciousness, stop, think and replace your thoughts and actions with more powerful ones.

Many years ago Thich Nhat Hanh invented this new word interbeing. He wanted to express the profound interdependence that binds everything and everyone together. In his book At Home in the World he tells the story of meeting The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1966, a perfect example of interbeing.

Could the contrast be any stronger? A Buddhist monk from Vietnam meets an African American Christian minister. The suffering of Thich Nhat Hanh’s people came about in large part by the warring actions of the United States government. And yet, Nhat Hanh was inspired by the nonviolent action King was organizing in the American south. He writes:

“From the first moment I knew I was in the presence of holy person. Not just his good work but his very being was a source of great inspiration for me. . . . That was the day we combined our efforts to work for peace in Vietnam and to fight for civil rights in the U.S. We agreed that the true enemy of man is not man. Our true enemy is not outside of us. Our true enemy is the anger, hatred, and discrimination that is found in the hearts and minds of man.”

They continued to correspond and support each other’s work. A year later they met again. Nhat Hanh told him, “’Martin, do you know something? In Vietnam they say you are a bodhisattva, an enlightened being trying to awaken other living beings and help them move toward more compassion and understanding.’ . . .

Just a few months later King was assassinated. “I was in New York when I heard the news of his assassination; I was devastated. I could not eat; I could not sleep. I made a deep vow to continue building what he called ‘the beloved community,’ not only for myself but for him also.”

Interbeing helps us recognize that the way of love, peace, justice and understanding is best walked by all of us, not just a chosen few. It enables us to see the good and supportive work that is being carried out all over the world, even in areas that don’t seem to affect us directly. In reality, what others do shore us up even as what we offer sends ripples of support back to them.

How and where do you experience interbeing?

In honor of Thich Nhat Hanh’s birthday month I am sharing aspects of his teachings that will make you think and may just change the way you live. Today I am thinking about present moment awareness, or what the Buddhists call “mindfulness.” Here are Thay’s own words about an action we all take in the Fall—raking the leaves.

“In autumn I like to rake the leaves at my hermitage at Plum Village [France]. I do it every three days or so, using a rake. . . . Raking the leaves is not simply to have a clean path to jog or walk along: raking the leaves is just to enjoy raking the leaves. So I hold the rake in such a way that makes me feel happy, peaceful, and solid during the whole time of raking. I want to ensure every movement is an act of enlightenment, an act of joy, and an act of peace. So I am not in a hurry because I see that the very act of raking is at least as wonderful as having a clean path. I would not be satisfied with anything less than that. . . . If you make one stroke in such a way that you are fully invested in the act of raking leaves, then you will be rewarded right away.” -Thich Nhat Hanh, At Home in the World

I get the idea from reading this that Thay was struggling with something that we all encounter—making meaning out of those tasks that we must do in order to get to the activities we want to do. When we carry out a task with this mindset—that we must it get done quickly so we can do something else we value more—then both actions, the thing we have to do and the thing we want to do, are diminished somehow. Certainly the first task is diminished because we don’t like it or appreciate it. But the second activity is also diminished because it is not long before we are looking forward to what is coming next. Will it be even better than what we have now?

Here is the secret to living so that “every movement is an act of enlightenment, an act of joy, and an act of peace”:

Assume the attitude that every action is important and bring complete awareness to each one

What are those tasks that are difficult for you? Mine are the household routines of doing laundry, cleaning the cat boxes and loading the dishwasher. Today I will “hold the rake in such a way that makes me feel happy, peaceful, and solid during the whole time of raking.” Will you join me?

Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh turns 95 years old today! He lives peacefully at his root monastery where he was ordained a monk as a teenager. He uses the phrase “continuation day” instead of “birthday” for a very special reason: He want us all to realize that nothing is ever born and nothing ever dies except in our own perception of it. Every flower becomes compost so more flowers can bloom. Every person brings her/his energy into the world in order to transform it before moving on. Everything is part of the grand cycle of life.

Here are two ways you can celebrate Continuation Day this week:

Spend time in nature, and no, walking between the house and the car does not count. Walk in a park or traverse the neighborhood where you live. Smell, see, touch and hear all that nature is offering you. Consider the truth of impermanence—everything you encounter will seem to pass away, but just because you cannot see it doesn’t mean it is gone. It will come back in some other form. Continuation is just another way of affirming impermanence.

Practice being in the present moment. Too much of our time and energy is spent pining away for of feeling regretful about the past. Even more is spent working toward and worrying about the future. The only moment we ever truly have is the present moment, the precious gift that sits before us right now. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches many ways to connect with the present moment through mindfulness, such as doing our ordinary activities with awareness and insight. Think of all the things you are engaged in throughout the day. What could unfold if you drank your coffee or tea without distraction truly appreciating what you were drinking or emptying the dishwasher or dryer with deep gratitude for these time-saving devices?

Enjoy your explorations this week and you just might decide to make every day “continuation day.”