With the New Year upon us, it’s helpful to acknowledge and even honor this time of “beginning again”. For most of us, 2020 was a tough one and we might find ourselves looking ahead with cynicism or trepidation. But as Melody Beattie says so well, “Don’t let the lessons, the experiences of the past dampen your enthusiasm for beginnings”. 

Many times in my teachings I have recommended that you be aware of your body and breathe as if you have never breathed before.  It’s called practicing with a beginner’s mind.  We use the beginner’s mind to live our experience as it actually is, not as we have conditioned ourselves to believe it is.

Imagine the possibility of bringing a beginners mind to 2021.  What if you start each day with an open mind? What if you leave behind old prejudices and self-limiting beliefs?  Imagine if you allow yourself to be open to possibility.  To quote a favorite Doctor of mine, Dr Suess, “Oh, the places you will go!”  Perhaps not to a destination vacation, just yet, but there is a journey ready for you, nonetheless.  Maybe it’s an inward journey to yourself. Maybe you don’t know where you’re going to end up.  Maybe you are harboring some fear.

There’s a popular song out by Jason Isbell and he says in the chorus…

“Be afraid, be very afraid, 
But do it anyway
. Do it anyway 
Do it anyway.”

My new beginning is to take this advice to heart in 2021.  Won’t you join me?  Together let’s take a step and embrace whatever comes with an open mind and open heart.

I would love to hear from you about how you’re beginning again.  Drop me an email at eileen@nikopoulos.net