Spring is in the air, the energy bursts forth and you feel the stirrings and awakenings of …what?
It is a similar feeling at the New Year…whether we celebrate it at Samhain, Yule or the beginning of the Gregorian calendar year. Suddenly the feeling arises to make a change, have this year different from last, better, improved, and made over. I reflect on this social phenomenon every time it occurs in the people around me. Personally, I have stopped making those resolutions pressured on me by others in the spirit of the season. Why? Is it because I feel the uselessness of it all, self-defeat overwhelming me into apathy?
We often feel the obligation to make another promise to ourselves and to others that we will do better this time around. When we do, do we really feel the need to change? Are we ready to change? Or are we just doing as we are told to by our peers and society? Are we conditioned in our upbringing to play the same ritual out, without feeling; play-acting out our role in a time-honoured tradition that no longer has any meaning to us or any joy. As an advanced society, we already know that to make plans to change when we aren’t prepared to do so equals failure in our mission. It is lip-service to the trendiest trend of self-improvement.
We listen to stories of people who have made changes in their lives; extraordinary changes. We reflect how wonderful it has made their lives and wish we could do the same. I notice one tiny detail…they certainly didn’t wait for New Years. They didn’t wait for Spring. They just did it. And that seems to be the marvel of it all. They begin to live their lives with meaning, adding energy and life to every step, every word, and every task. Their world is open and they look for the next challenge with anticipation. Fear has been put to the wayside; there is no time in their lives for fear or indecision. Dreams are rekindled and lived. And what is the phrase we hear? “No time like the present because tomorrow may never come.”
Usually, these people are awakened by some tragedy in their lives or in the lives of others. A small child escapes the ravages of a fatal disease…or not. A family is removed from our world suddenly, without warning. The person is diagnosed with cancer. Suddenly, they live as if they are living their last days…maybe they are. I wonder why people wait for that wake up call. Why wait on the right season, the right inspiration, the right person to come along. Just what are we waiting for anyways?
Every day is a new opportunity to make goals, achieve them or just enjoy life as it’s presented to us. Every day can feel like spring if we want it to. Every moment is a new opportunity. Even after just eating that last piece of chocolate cake. Just because we make an oops one moment, doesn’t mean we are doomed to make it again. When we don’t succeed, we get to try, try again. So we reached for the cake instead of an apple this time. And? It’s called practise and it makes us perfect. We can practise good health until we get it right. We can practise our game until we succeed. We can practise our writing until we get it just write…err right.
“But, I need to first.”
Sometimes we have to wait for something to happen to get on with our goal…maybe it’s finances, maybe we need to get better health before we can even get into the game, maybe we have to reorganize our time and that means getting others to agree to change timing, too. Ok, then there *is* the waiting...or is it preparation?
We know that successful changes take being prepared to do so. These preparations don’t just occur; we have to do them ourselves. If we want to run a marathon, we have to get in shape. To get in shape, we have to get up off our butt and do something, either walking on a regular basis or joining a gym. We can either wait to run the marathon for when we are in better shape, or we can prepare to run the marathon. If we want a great job, we have to make ourselves ready to take it on. It sounds like symantics. It is, but that is what our brains work on. Waiting puts our brains on pause, preparing puts it into gear.
When we set our goals, we have to look at whether or not we are ready to achieve them. Do we have all we need in order to walk that path? If I want to travel the world, I can cast whatever spells I want, implore Hermes to bless my ambition, and put up pictures of places I want to see on my Vision Board. It will mean absolutely nothing if I don’t mail out my Passport Application. It’s about being prepared to achieve the goals we want instead of waiting about for some mythical time and place to align itself to our vision. When we are prepared to achieve, all goals are easy. Preparation can start now.
So what are we waiting for?
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