Sunset over the San Luis Valley — Solstice 2022
Let's sense into Essence
Into the Essence of Essence
Each Essence a consciousness all of its own,
A quality, a wavelength, a wisdom, a tone,
A unique vibration, an exclusive sensation,
A pulsating partner in all of Creation.
~ Shelley Ostroff, from "IS"
As I began to update what has become Muse and my annual ‘Auld Lang Syne’ post, the online countdown clock indicated that it’s 4 days, 11 hours, 58 minutes, 34 seconds until the new year is rung in here in the Colorado Rockies. ‘Who’s counting?’ wonders Muse.
As was the case at the end of 2021, many – perhaps most – await the turning of the clock to 2023 with bated breath, wishing to bid adieu to another tumultuous year. We want to turn the page. We long to dive deeply into the fresh start that began with the Solstice promise of our personal newness and culminates as we replace our 2022 calendars with new pages of promise and possibility that the coming year has the potential to bring forth.
It is, as always, up to us – individually and collectively – to bring promise, possibility, and potential to fruition. This year let us bring our Essence, the intrinsic nature and indispensable quality of ourselves fully into Life. How might our world be if we enter the new with that as our intention?
As sure as the Sun’s light is returning day by day here in the northern hemisphere, we will have opportunities to do just that in the hours, days, weeks, and months ahead. What if we trusted the opportunities to come forth at just the right divine time rather than pushing to ‘make’ them happen?
While 2022 held much tragedy and darkness, lights of love continued to be shined in dark corners needing our attention and care. May the light of our Essence shine the light of love in all the days ahead. May we tap into the countless sources of light available beyond the chaos of the mainstream and its ways. May we receive whatever light we need as we add our unique rays to loving constellations of light and life.
Although the onset of a new year signals the end of the holiday season in our culture, Winter has only just begun. The dark, the cold invites me inward (more snow would help the cause!). Muse smiles a happy, knowing smile. The season that began a mere seven days ago has a 12-week run before giving way to Spring. Yet our cultural habit of a new year is to make plans and spring into action with goals and commitments to DO more.
What if we took more time for rest and renewal as Nature does in the season of cold? What if we put our attention on nurturing the deep, true Essence that is you? And me? What if we followed Nature’s lead and snuggle into ourselves to commune with the sacred and to gather all that is necessary to burst forth in Spring. While certainly there is life and livelihood to maintain, jobs to go to, businesses to tend, political action to be voiced, stories to be told, I wonder how the world might be if we began the calendar year in greater alignment with Nature? Our Nature?
As I reflect on saying ‘Goodbye’ to this time gone by, my year end reflections include bundles of gratitude for what I’ve learned and discovered, how I’ve grown and changed. Muse called forth other questions for exploration:
What do I want to cultivate in the year ahead?
What essence do I want to bring to the world? To relationships? To my care for self and other beings?
What do I want to be able to say with conviction when 2023 is done?
What do you bring to your year-end reflections?
As 2022 ends, many will breathe a sigh of relief that it is finally over along with a breath of hope for better days in the year ahead. The world we live in is chaotic and uncertain. It IS! Those who put attention on that world forgetting that it is the world we live IN, NOT the world we are OF may look ahead with dread or fear.
That need not be.
Within each of us is a seed of understanding who we truly are, our Essence. Nurturing that seed grows our faith in our capacity to be resilient in the face of the world’s chaos. This seed of faith is within us all. It is not faith in anything outside of us. Rather it is faith in who we are, each as an individual, integral part of an intelligent Universe. It is a reminder that life is so much more than we experience and observe in our daily routines. In this year ahead, may we each tap into our Essence, our spiritual strength, anew.
As you ring in 2023, I invite you to join me in nourishing your Essence in each of the 365 days ahead, remembering how important your presence and your ray of light is at this moment on the planet.
With that intention top of mind and heart, I’ll be participating in a global event 7 Days of Rest and Return to Essence during the first week of the new year. As they did at year end 2021, the event’s introductory words drew me in with their reminder of the power of intention and clarity and the potent possibility that alignment and collective action call forth:
7 Days of Rest, January 1-7, is an annual, open co-creative event dedicated to the healing and replenishment of the planet and all its inhabitants. All are invited to enjoy the rich array of offerings, including wisdom teachings, meditations, music, inspirations and more, that are generously offered by the global community.
The theme for the event is 7 Days of Rest & Return to Essence. Together we will seed the intention and experience of relearning the language of essence and bringing our energy and resources to that which is most nourishing and vitalizing to all of Life.
The website - https://www.7days-of-rest.org/ - is chock full of nourishing offerings each day. I’m looking forward to an encounter with each of the daily themes. I hope that you’ll join me in whatever way best fits your Essence, your schedule, your life, and your intentions for the year ahead.
Blessed Essence and Happy NEW Year!
Thank you Kelly Sikkema - Unsplash