Happy new year, friends!
I hope everyone who observed the Christmas and New Year holidays did so in a safe manner and is free of regrets as we start 2013.
I’ve enjoyed a very relaxing holiday, from Dec 20 to now, working only 3 days in that span and enjoying the company of my wife, our children, and family in general. The children particularly enjoyed Christmas, of course, with presents under the tree and all that, and I joined them all for church services twice and particularly appreciated the Christmas-eve service at which my son performed a solo portion singing “Once in Royal David’s City.”
I was also graced with the presence of an old friend from high school, the only one, in fact, with whom I maintain regular contact, making my two-week near-vacation as complete as it possibly could be.
Many people see this time of year as a good time for new beginnings, almost as if we can strategically jump-start our “new” lives in sync with the calendar. Often, this is tried with resolutions, both the lofty and the practical, which end in further regret and failure.
When we’re trying to bring rise to this new “self-image (and don’t delude yourself into thinking that it is anything but that, an image),” we really shouldn’t be waiting for a mark on a calendar to start. Each day can be a new beginning on which we can see the fruit of past actions and make reasonable progress toward the practice of perfection. If we’re waiting for a particular date to get started, who’s to say we’ll remember when we get there? Or worse, what if we don’t make it to that date at all?
So there really isn’t any time like right now to make a vow, to start practicing, to not just think about it but actually be a better person.
In my family, three of us have birthdays this month. My daughter will be one, my son eight, and I will be thirty-one years old. For me there is certainly no time like right-now to be the absolute best father I can be for them.
Seize the moment and be the most perfect being you can be right now. Don’t just flow with your self-image, or that of others, but get under the image of self and find perfection. Practice in this way and you can find perfection anywhere, anytime, right now.
Great post
Thank you for saying so, friend.
Happy Birthday! May you be Well and Happy! with metta
Thank you very much, friend!
Wishing very Happy Birthdays to all three of you! Be well. ~Gina
Thank you, and you also, friend.