"It takes a period of time (a cycle) for you to recognize what you have learned before you are ready to initiate your new cycle …" - Gregge Tiffen
Cycles are in my thoughts this week as spring has arrived and as I enter the final week of my 63rd year and prepare to launch a new annual cycle in my life. I feel pulled just a bit in this time between the arrival of spring’s warmth with its pull of new beginnings and my own annual cycle wrapping up with its invitation to reflect and evaluate the experiences of the year.
I’ve been dancing with each this week. I’ve engaged in conversations about getting our garden started as well as participating in conversations about creating a new culture in an organization that I work with. Exciting to be sure, but before I rush into the new, I’m giving myself the time and space to review the year just ending and life to this point.
As a part of that review, I’ve just completed reorganizing materials collected over 34 years of working with two of my guides on this life’s journey, Gregge Tiffen and Patrece. You’ve seen them both quoted here from time to time and you’ll likely see more as I dive back into the rich learning that’s now neatly organized into six giant binders.
Organizing the material in a new way brought forth new awareness, some of it humbling. Questions asked years ago. Answers and possibilities forgotten; opportunities not seized. Reminders of life’s challenges faced with courage or grace; lessons learned and lived. All are indicators of my progress this life.
In this sacred week of ending another annual cycle, I look forward to several days of review and reflection here amongst the trees and in the shadow of the Sangres. I hold these questions in my heart and mind as take that look back:
- Where am I?
- What have I accomplished?
- What is my progress?
- What do I choose next on my journey of progression?
While these are especially powerful questions to reflect on as one cycle ends and another begins, it occurs to me as I observe the chaos in our world that they are worthy questions at any time and in most any situation. They create a container within which we can reach the clarity of thought needed to take life’s next step.
As I look ahead to my new year, that is the clarity that I want to bring and to apply in new ways.
The mountain weather conspires to keep me comfortably indoors and inside myself with wind, clouds, snow and rain.
Does life get any better than the joy of learning and experimenting and feeling the deep gratitude for whatever I’m experiencing moment to moment, cycle to cycle?
Question for the Week: What cycles do you observe and honor in your life? What richness do they add?