New Year Wish

As we continue...

I leave you with Brené Brown — THE expert in vulnerability — to close a year which many would like to forget. Just like emotion, we cannot live fully by selecting only positive experiences. In order to be receptive to our highest good, challenge must also visit. I invite you to lean into the experience of this year. What do you know about yourself today that you didn’t in 2019? Have you uncovered an inner creativity, community spirit or talent for stress baking? Maybe you never knew how much you would actually love working from home. Or that doing so would challenge you to evaluate your relationships. If you’re a parent, I bet you pulled from new strength in order to keep everyone safe and calm. And if you’re a business owner, you have learned to pivot repeatedly to continue serving our needs. You may feel a deeper connection to being Nova Scotian after the losses we’ve shared. You know what BLM stands for — and how you stand for it. And you probably know more about American politics than you would have ever cared to before. I would like to think you know your body better — how it sleeps when it’s worried, it’s response when the gyms are closed and the signals it sends when a threat is sensed. At the very least, if you are still granted time here, you have fostered some kind of new resilience through rising above unprecedented times. Well done, You! 

Contrary to popular belief, the New Year is not a blank slate. The issues which have risen cannot now be unknown. But neither can our resilience. You cannot un-know how you handle stress, what you do to get through difficulty, how you feel when you see suffering or what you say when you witness oppression. My hope is that resiliency has not thickened your skin but rather cracked your heart wide open to an awareness of the intricacy of our connection — a reverence for our impact on the whole. Let us not reject an entire year because of hardship but remember where we saw joy despite it. Let our focus be on who and what has proven to truly be essential with a new appreciation for the nature of nature.

I wish for you peace & power with your newly attuned wisdom. May vulnerability guide you bravely into the full spectrum of adventure which awaits. I’m so happy to be here with you. Happy New Year. 

In love,
Alicia