A new year...

Do you ever wonder how it can possibly be the year 2011? Are you still feeling the sense of adventure and anticipation that came with our switch from the 1900's to the 2000's? I have to admit that I'm still a bit in awe of it all. Each year as I write the date on my checks or bills or notes...or wherever...01...04..08....10, I often think about the people, I knew, who wrote the very same number 100 years ago. That makes me feel old...really old! As we get further into the 21st century, I'm thinking....in 8 years it will be 100 years since my mother's birth....in 9 years the same for my dad. How can that be? How can the time, which went so slowly in my younger years, be going by so quickly now?

Ah..I know the answer to that! My grandmother, Maggie, or Munna as we called her, used to tell me that time goes much faster when you get older. As much as I adored my grandmother, I figured that's just what old people say and I gave it zero credibility. Silly me. I now, totally, understand exactly what she was saying. What is the saying...the days may seem long but the years go by so quickly? Well, now the days don't even seem long. I wake up in the morning and what seems like 45 minutes later, it's time to go to bed. WTF!!!! And now I'm truly realizing that there's so little time and so much to be done. This might just be the year to do some major transformation. Maybe.

Here's what I'm thinking....I'm 67 years old and this is going to be the year I finally learn to let go and practice non attachment to things. Well, to at least 364 things as I plan to let go of something every day of the year 2011. There are many reasons for this...#1...I have way to much stuff...#2...I need to lighten my load so I can better see the moon and the stars...and the real me....#3...it just makes sense and it feels good....#4....it will open me up to 2012 and give the good energies more room to find me.

I know some of you are really shaking your head at #4, but we can get into that later.

Everywhere I look all I see is stuff, stuff, and more stuff. Hard to believe that I've actually done quite a bit of "letting go" the past couple of years because there's still so much left. I don't need all this stuff and the sane part of me knows that...but on the clingy, sentimental days... it's more like...oh no...you can't get rid of this little whatever...it came from whomever or you might need it and then regret you let it go, and how wasteful is that for God's sake!!! Do you do that to yourself? Are we insane? Of course we are!

Yesterday, a friend told me that her word for the year is...Balance. Such a great word and intention, isn't it? Don't we all strive for that? Today, another friend, says her word for the year is... Intention. At first, I was thinking...now that's pretty broad and it allows quite a bit of room to err. But...does it really? If whatever you do is done with good intention, isn't that a level of consciousness that keeps you in the moment? We talked about "The Road to Good Intentions" and all the ideas behind that, but decided..the hell with them. It's another guilt trip "they" put us on, right? I love both of these "year" words and I'm still working on mine.

So, we've made it through the first week of the year and to be honest, I'm a little behind in everything I set out to accomplish. However, in respect of my age, I'm allowing myself to be Ok with that. So...I didn't do all I had planned for the first week...the good news is...I have 51 more weeks to get it right! Plenty of time to come up with whatever I think I need to do. What a freeing thought!

Please allow yourself the same latitude...you'll do what you need to do...just give yourself however much time you need to do it. It's not really procrastination...it's just allowing ourselves a little break...there are times to do and there are times to just be. Right?

And if our time runs out...oh well, we tried.