On the very first day of THIS new year... I wrote notes to a few of my treasured friends, companions, and colleagues throughout the constellation of my life.
Though each electronic note was tailored to the magic and mysteries of each individual and our unique journeys over the year past, a deep thrum of meaning was constant.
A thrum sounded by the poet Ranier Maria Rilke as he wrote of our power to bring into being that which has yet to become.
The response from individuals was astonishingly swift and powerful. Within hours, and sometimes within minutes... echoing electronic notes returned with prescient awareness.
"Thank you for shining light in my inbox!"
"What beautiful words... and the Poem is so exactly what I have been experiencing."
"Oh how I needed this."
"This arrived just when I was ready to hear it."
Alongside my own inner knowing that "now is my own moment to shape the world."
Writing this first post of 2022, I decided to integrate and distill the varied notes into one of single essence and strike again a clarion sound with Rilke's poetry, so "clear and sharp," as an invitation for us all to grasp the power within us... and powerfully shape our world.
Please accept this integrated note as both gift and impulse for waking to the hour with all of our senses, to ripen the world.
~~~
1 JAN 2022
My dearest friends... .
On this great dissolving day, we mark a stroke in the sky that dissolves a year into next…
I savor you and our work together. It remains a wonderment to me.
Our gifts of trust, intention, and showing up with strength and courage allow me to offer my best gifts in the world. Thank you.
I trust that we will each create small spaces of awakening to reset throughout this day, and every day, to reflect and ground ourselves as we "shift forward" into next.
This is where our place and our power rise, poised on the rim of this new year.
I gift you this poem by Ranier Maria Rilke.
The hour is striking so close above me, so clear and sharp, that all my senses ring with it. I feel it now: there is a power in me to grasp and give shape to my world. I know that nothing has ever been real without my beholding it. All becoming has needed me. My looking ripens things and they come toward me, to meet and be met.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Anita Barrows & Joanna Macy
~~~
Each of the notes ended with the invitation, "let us be gentle with ourselves."
And now, I extend the same invitation to you. Be gentle with yourself. Be wise and courageous with your capacity to give shape to the world.
Happy THIS Year. Be well.
Greg
ENJOY A 3 MINUTE PERSPECTIVE SHIFT
CENTER
Take at least one gentle, spacious, deep, centering breath.
Set an intention to receive wisdom and a new perspective.
INQUIRE
What relationship, action, idea, project, or creation needs me to ripen it into the world?
What concrete, powerful action or decision is needed from me (time to reflect, a telephone call, calendar a meeting, sketch a plan) to bring it to life?
ACT
Listen throughout the day for an elegant clarity and effortlessness about what is mine to do and when I shall do this work.
Imagine the cascade of impact this new action can set in motion.
IMPACT
Allow my body to savor the physical experience of this shift - such as relief, release, laughter, delight, surprise, calm - to receive the full benefit of your practice.
Gently transition with at least one spacious, deep, centering breath of gratitude that you took this time for yourself.
Move forward into the day with renewing eyes that embrace possibility.