Traditions and pages, continued

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I've been revisiting some of my archived posts here at Healing Morning and this is another thought that I didn't think I could improve upon that much.  I'd like to repost it and add something I wrote on my Facebook wall last night.  This may become a new tradition of sorts, we shall see.  This is what I wrote on New Year's Eve, 2010:

As we bid farewell to 2010, despite admittedly challenging moments, what stands out the most for me is that I laughed a LOT during 2010. I am so well blessed with loving friendships & a beautiful family, good health, & a creative, agile mind. I wish for all of us to greet 2011 with an open heart & the excitement & willingness to grab onto Life with both hands, take chances & dare to be happy. Namaste'.    ~ Dawn, 12/31/2010

I've already made my feelings known about making, keeping and/or breaking New Year's Resolutions.  I firmly boycott the idea (see blogpost "Just say 'No!'") of resolutions.  Instead, tonight and as I do every New Year's Eve, I embrace an old Irish tradition.  It is for us to take a moment in the hour prior to midnight and reflect on the people who matter the most to us.  This moment of reflection, according to tradition, ensures that these same people will be present in your New Year.  I have always loved this concept and never fail to dedicate those important moments of reflection.  I have another, more personal tradition of journaling that I will address in a moment, so bear with me!

Of course, the tradition above is more a lyrical, lovely sentiment than any sure promise we will have written in stone.  I am, however, a romantic at heart, so I do not apologize for choosing to believe in the true, mystical power of this type of tradition!  Rather than pesky resolutions I never keep, what better way to greet the New Year than with intentional thought and energy towards having those I love the most in my life in the next calendar year?  I find that a much more logical application of my time and energy!

I always feel so much hope and optimism as we bid farewell to the ending year and prepare to greet the new one.  We are lucky, I think, to stand at the brink of twelve new months full of possibilities, experiences, memories yet to be made, laughter yet to be shared, beautiful sights yet to be witnessed.  Therefore, New Year's Eve, for me at least, is a hopeful, cheerful time. 

If I continue to explore the world around me with an open heart, if I continue to pursue my dreams in 2010 as I have in 2009, I see no way that the New Year can be anything but positive.  Will difficult times visit each of us?  Quite possibly, they will.  We do not exist in limbo, after all, and there is balance in all things.  For now, we have a New Year to celebrate.  The page is blank for all of us, waiting for each hand to scroll out the moments.  I find that exciting, challenging, thought provoking and above all, something to be thankful for.

What will your personal page look like?  Is it plain, ruled white paper?  Maybe handsome, thick vellum that expresses your distinct flair?  Will you write the moments out with traditional black ink pen, or perhaps choose to thumb your nose at tradition and dash out thoughts in bold, unique colors like purple or green?  Are your pages bound in a spiral notebook, practical and sturdy?  Or are they bound in an elegant leather volume that appeals to your sense of quiet, private reverie?  None of these matter - perhaps your pages exist completely in your imagination.  My pages actually exist in corporeal form, in journal format of basic black bound books with unlined pages where I write my moments in clean, black ink.  I have a new book for 2011, waiting to have those new experiences recorded. 

Being the writer I am, I find it appropriate that my New Year's greeting encompasses what some will call a flight of fancy with the tradition expressed above, and also the practice and discipline of writing in longhand, in journal format to begin the journey of a new cycle.