... it can be a good time to reflect on the year gone, to let go off the old and look to the future.

Having had 2 family bereavements this past year, and another family member who has been diagnosed with a brain tumour which is malignant, and undergoing treatment for it - it has been a hard year, but yet, the most fulfilling too. I may not be working in the area I want, but am working towards that. Am approaching the end of my last year on a psychotherapy course, which has been an enlightening, yet challenging venture.

However, having undergone reiki training, I am now hoping to pursue that goal, maybe around March/April. I am holding onto the faith that it can happen and I can be successful within it. Believing that I can be successful is what will help me on this new venture. I am going to start making enquiries in January though, about how to progress forwards on this new venture.

I know that having the faith is what can help me on this new path, as fear is what would keep me stuck in a job I hate.

Best of luck to you Orna! I know of a few others that are embarking on a similar path...and it seems to be working well for them (as scary as it seems to them it is working!).
Now is the time for service...I need to find my outlet for service.
:)

Orna,

This is a great post. I've been lurking for a while here on the Froud site and haven't had any posts really peak my interest enough to answer. However, yours managed to do just that! Orna, I hope your goals are reached. I think the field you mentioned is going to be needed in the years to come and getting in now is a great idea. Good luck! I hope we can all be more service minded in the years to come, because, like I said, I think it's going to be needed!

Now, on to how I celebrate the New Year... I keep a journal (weekly if not daily) and I have this ritual, if you will. I go back and reread it from January 1rst through the end of the year. Sometimes, I find it comforting, or helpful to remember each event that I've recorded. It helps me to see areas that I may need to work on or change; as long as I'm honest with myself. It also helps me understand - in that over-time kind of way - why some things worked out the way they did, whether it was good or bad.

By looking back over the year, I can see patterns more clearly and relate those to what I learned via my experiences. Sure, there are some uncomfortable truths... but if I am open to them and honest with myself, I can usually see the greater scheme of things and change what I don't like in the year to come.

There are also moments that I cherish most deeply and this ritual helps to remind me of those times as well.

As the new year begins it is a great time to figure out what went right (and something always has) and what went wrong and try to figure out how to make more things go right in the year to come. It's kinda like deciphering a code; but a code only you can decipher. And there is a beauty in that simplicity.

I think the beauty many here have forgotten or misplaced, can be found within themselves and also within every creature and every moment that surrounds us. Sure it's cliche, but maybe we need to remember that we are but a small piece of the whole. We are unique, but we are also linked. It's normal to have ups and downs, it's whether we resign ourselves to the downs as the norm or pull ourselves up by the boot-straps and look for the next bright spot. We should hold onto those pure moments, cherish those moments, because things can always get worse. But it is up to us, we have to decide that no matter how bad it gets, we will survive, we will be stronger for it and we will enjoy every possible moment of the journey. We have to find the hope we seek, within ourselves and we have to be willing to ask and receive the help we need. It is but up to us what the next year will bring. Will it be light? Will it be dark? The choice is ours. It will be what you make of it.

Thank you again, Orna, for this post. It's always good to look forward, but we must first be willing to look back and see where we've been, so that our souls may grow bigger, better, and more beautiful in the year to come. Happy New Year! I hope all of your goals and wishes for a bright new year come true!

Mystique

Favorite Froud Book? Oracle

Thank you Laiste. I feel so passionately about reiki and other alternative therapies. I will be taking a crystal workshop in January too, which I hope I can use within my reiki practice too.

Mystique, your ritual sounds amazing, and also, thank you for your kind words. Journalling I find it so important, as it helps to remind us of where we have come from, and where we are going. I do think it is important not to dwell on the past too, as is important to acknowledge the struggles, but also to let them go. I know for me this past year has been challenging, after having 2 family bereavements, and another family member who is critically ill, with a brain tumour. It is sad, but these things are outside of my control, so I find it is important to acknowledge the painful emotions, but also to let them go and move on too.

43 lookie-loos and only 3 responses?????

Hmmmm.... that's curious.

I guess people aren't really looking forward to the new year?! I guess they're so scared at what might be around the next bend that they don't want to think about it at all?! Maybe they're not feeling grateful because so many bad things happened this year and those things are just continuing, both personally, professionally and with society and the economy?! Maybe it's too much for them to set goals or even dream?! Maybe the bad energy gurus have won?! Maybe they've sucked the life/joy right out of everyone... worn them down until all that remains are shell-shocked, cardboard cut-outs of people?! Maybe they've won after all.............

NAH!!! I refuse to believe that last one. Maybe people are complacent. Maybe they are depressed and uncertain of the future, but I refuse to believe that "They" have won and that all hope is lost.... and because I refuse to believe that... there must be others that do too!

Maybe we can start fresh with the new year... now, that's an idea!

BRIGHT Blessings and Happy New Year!
Dragonfly

Words to remember:

Dale Carnegie ~ "Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."

Arundhati Roy ~ "Not only is another world possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."

Christopher Reeve ~ "Once you choose hope, anything's possible."

Elie Wiesel ~ "I have learned two lessons in my life: first, there are no sufficient literary, psychological, or historical answers to human tragedy, only moral ones. Second, just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings."

Erik H. Erikson ~ "Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired."



Franklin Delano Roosevelt ~ "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."

I get the feeling that 2009 is going to be a very important year...LOTs of changes. My astrology friend says that some of the aspects happening now haven't been seen since the American Revolution...so I'm looking forward to changes like that shaking things up (they already are actually)
overall I'm optimistic that things are going to get better and better...along with a time of much change...it's all about how you handle the change.

This past year has been challenging (trying to buy the store, failing, helping the store close..my mom fighting lung cancer...my BF being crazy..being unemployed..and the list goes on...) but it was GOOD. I can feel structures in my life getting shaken up and lots of new opportunity for growth! Thing is I can see that happening all around...it seems like everything is changing...I can't wait to see the new world we create....
Here's to 2009! It'll be hard, not that much fun at times but well worth it...

I agree Laiste. Even though the media is full of gloom at the moment, we can allow that to fuel the fear if we choose, or we can try to be optimistic about what lies ahead. Astrologically speaking 2008 was a year of changes, and I know for me, it certainly was, in many different ways. People in Ireland are talking of gloom etc, however the economical situation, has only started here, however if I choose to, I could find myself getting desolate about that, but I think that having hope in the future, is the only way forward, as without hope, what do we have?

I am totally freaked out about the years coming and all the hype about the END. I don't know. The sun is going to spew craziness at us and I'm not prepared. I feel cheated and have been depressed for more than a year about all of this. I feel cheated. Will never know what raising a family will be like..blah, blah, blah. I'm a Gloominous Doom right now. Forgive me.

Orna, take care in your time of need. Much blessings your way.

Fee Lion,

You've been watching too much History Channel. LOL! They are full of doom and gloom and it's starting to **** me off, because I know there are people out there that take everything they say as fact, when a lot of it has been proven otherwise. Like Global Warming.

Seriously though, life is change. We shouldn't fear it (like the "religions" out there want us to - that's how people are controlled, you see) we should embrace it, because those who understand nature, understand that change is necessary to bring about better things. We have to have the bad, to make us appreciate the good. Balance is the key.

I do think though that it will be how we handle the changes coming that will shape the outcome. If we are balanced in our own human nature; if we are balanced in our spiritual and mental pursuits; if we are balanced in our attitudes and our desires, then we have a better opportunity to make the changes good. WE need to think positively and not dwell on the negitive spewing from our TV's, our religious "leaders", and our government officials. Do I think that things may get worse before they get better?! Absolutely. But I also know that it's all in what you make of it.

Laiste,

I'm sorry for your troubles in 2008. I hope 2009 brings much happiness and contentment to your door but even if more bad comes, I know that you will take it in stride and come out of it with a greater understanding of what you're made of and an ability to see the lessons you were meant to learn. You are awesome, Laiste. Stay positive!

Everyone:

It's been a rough year, a lot of changes took place in 2008, some good, some bad. If we stick together - all of us - we will fare much better. We must keep our positive outlooks in tact. We must fight the urge to fall into despair. We must maintain our balance and stay positive in the face of change.

Lots of love and wishing you all many blessings!
Dragonfly

Here's an amusing re-cap of virtually all the "world is about to end" theories throught the ages:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/oracle/9941/

The basic point is, people have ALWAYS thought the end of the world is imminent.

Pyrian,

That is a brilliant website! Thanks for sharing.

Dragonfly

"The end of one thing, is always the beginning of another."

Favorite Froud Book? Oracle

The beginning of 2009 is the year of the open door. we are here to create all that the world should be. Orna I to have my reiki level II. It is awesome to help others with, but you will find that it is even better to help yourself with. There is no reason to doubt that the world is in need of the energy that is within those who are positive. The positive feeds the positive and as such it grows. The year 2008 was to be the year of the new beginnings, but too many were not ready to accept the beginnings as they could come. 2008 was then a year of extension to reach critical mass for the positive instead of beginning the positive shift that is now.
There is no room in my heart for negative messages. At the beginning of 08 I thought that my book from Hope and Healing was done and ready to publish, then in June same thing. It is finally ready now because the energy of the world is ready now, and hope and healing had more to pass to the masses. Hope and Healing are my personal guardian angels. As such, a housewife who has a simple life on the farm has created a life to envy by many. Burnout is a thing of the past. There is never a reason to ignore your passions. Follow your heart in all you do. Seek out the healing that is yours. There are many resources out there.
The world is mine in 2009.

I agree jln1101. I found the reiki helped me so much over this past year. Only a few days after doing reiki 1 did my uncle pass away, and I firmly believe it was the reiki that helped me process what I needed to with that, as that was my second loss in four months. Also, helping me know what I want to be working towards, and letting go of past harmful situations/relationships etc. As I am also busy with working full-time, studying part-time, it has helped me to create some "me" time into my every day life too.

I agree, 2008 even before things started materialising, was supposed to be a year of growth, and I think (but I could be wrong here) that 2009 is a year for reaping the rewards from the learnings in 2008.