Happy New Year, Everyone! I love this time of year. Optimism is in the air! There is a shedding of the past, inner reflection about what we want for our lives, and an openness to the unknown of the future.
If we want to live our lives in alignment with what is true and real, this is a cusp point, an auspicious time that invites us to let go of the old and welcome in the new.
Welcoming the New
How to welcome in the new? By being open to this present moment – to living in the here and now. Not as a concept, but as our actual reality. The dictionary defines new as “appearing for the first time.” The essential gift of this time of the New Year is that it reminds us of the actual reality of our existence: everything is always appearing for the first time, every moment is always fresh and new, brimming with possibility. What an insight!
Think about it – is it possible for a moment to be repeated? Certainly, things are familiar in our lives. When we wake up in the morning, the bedroom looks just as it did before we fell asleep the night before. But our experience in the moment is completely unique. This moment has never occurred before and will never occur again. In truth, we are always welcoming in the new.
So why do things seem familiar, even humdrum and stale? Sometimes we long for something new to happen. How can that be if every moment is new – if the fresh experience of reality is right here, closer than the breath?
No Mind = Fresh, New, Alive
Familiarity is all in our minds, which are very adept at remembering our experiences. When we see something that seems familiar, we are viewing it through the lens of a memory. We are not experiencing it directly.
Take a look at a common object that you can see right now, say a table. How do you know a table is a table? Your mind has learned that tables have certain characteristics that match the object you are now perceiving. What if you could forget the word table and all the table memories you have. Now take a look at the object and see it directly as it is.
You will probably notice a completely different experience. It is alive to you!
Now imagine you could forget all the memories of fears, emotional wounds, and traumatic experiences. How would the world look to you then? Imagine living in the possibility of not carrying the past into the present.
Zen Buddhists speak of “beginner’s mind.” When we stop seeing our experiences through memory, we are beginners, babes in the woods, innocent, open. We have an almost visceral experience of everything that is palpable and undeniably real. We are infinitely curious.
Problems and stresses melt away – they cannot exist without memory.
Experience This Moment Directly
Reality is alive, here, always available to be experienced as it is. Certainly, being familiar with things helps us to function in the world. We benefit from remembering how to drive or brush our teeth. These memories are effortless – they come when we need them.
But most memories distract us from seeing what is actually true. We live through the veil of a smudged window rather than seeing things with crystal clarity. When we directly experience what appears, we feel it, sense it, we come to know its aliveness.
At this time of the New Year, I invite you to deeply explore this present moment.
- Eat a raisin. Place a raisin in your palm, and turn your attention away from your thoughts. Experience the raisin through your senses – see it, touch it, smell it, then place it in your mouth and bite down.
- Close your eyes. Go into a familiar room and close your eyes. Move around the room experiencing the objects through touch. Let go of the mind activity, and experience things directly. Be curious about what things are actually like: shape, density, texture.
- Meet people. Encounter familiar people in your life as if for the first time. Study their faces, look into their eyes. Clear your mind of the past, and just for a moment, meet them directly as they are.
Often, experiencing reality directly brings a sense of deep appreciation. We are sensitive to nuance and detail, we stop doing and receive things as they are.
When we let go of the old, we can truly welcome in the new – in every moment.
Henri @ Wake Up Cloud says
I agree 100% that all of us (some more than others) see reality through the lens of what has already been. When you’re in the now, it is a completely different experience, just like you said.
Excellent post to start an excellent year 😉
Gail Brenner says
Thanks so much, Henri. A warm welcome to you! We can’t be living through the lens of the past and be in the now at the same time. When we let go of thoughts about the past. we realize that reality, life is right here. Wishing you well…Gail
Miche-SerenityHacker says
Hi Gail, what a great reminder to be fully present, conscious, and in touch with our sensations. One thing that strikes me is when I do this, I not only feel much more alive but much more grounded, too. I am THERE. I can walk to work being totally in my head, every thing I see triggering something in my mind, and literally, I’m not seeing much. The experience is forgettable and before you know it I’m at work. It’s the same old walk everyday. Or, I focus on experiencing the walk directly, not in my mind, and the walk is quite exhilarating, always new, and, I end up more refreshed and have a much better day.
Cheers,
Miche
Gail Brenner says
Well said, Miche! My experience is exactly the same. When we are present, not taken away by thoughts, we get to notice what is actually here – even if we think we have experienced something many times before. I find it very relaxing to be in the moment. Resistance is depleting, simply being here is being at ease. Sending love….
Armen Shirvanian says
Hi Gail.
A warm welcome of the year to you as well.
That is an interesting concept there about how this moment won’t occur again. It sure is true. Each current set of experiences we have only occurs one time. I don’t think I have thought of it that way.
This is true about how we look at things based on our memories of them. Instead of seeing a table, I see a table I had a certain set of experiences with, or, instead of seeing a book, I see a book that I put off reading many times, and so it takes away from my interest in trying it now. If we saw things as they were, without our memories attached to them, our days sure would be different.
Nice added perspective here.
Gail Brenner says
Great to hear from you, Armen! I love how you are relating this truth to everyday happenings in your life!
When let go of any previous conceptions, we can see things purely as they are. Since every moment is fresh and new, it is filled with possibility, not limited by our ideas about the past. We might get a new insight, see something, or someone, in a different way…anything can happen. When we don’t pay attention to the memories, there is freedom for things to flow naturally – not affected by ideas about how they should be.
Wishing you well….
jean says
Happy New Year, Gail! I’ve been away a while, and it’s good to be return and be back into some routines.
Off topic: Would you be able to suggest a book I could gift to an engaged couple (30 years old) to assist in their preparation for marriage? It would need to be something non-denominational.
Thanks for any suggestions you may offer. As always, your blog is inspirational and informative. I look forward to catching up on posts from the last few weeks.
Best in the New Year,
Jean
Gail Brenner says
A warm welcome back to you, Jean, and Happy New year!
I love your idea of giving a book to the engaged couple to prepare for marriage. Certainly, a lot of wisdom in that. You can find three relationship books that I like here. Also, I wrote a post on pickthebrain.com called: It’s Not Rocket Science: How to Choose Your Life Partner. Your friends have already chosen each other, but they might find some interesting questions to discuss together. Wishing you well…
jean says
Gail,
Thanks so much for your quick response. I’m ordering “The Seven Principles . . . ” STAT! I also like the other books on your recommendation list. A few I own or have read; most of the remainder I would like to read.
Your article, “It’s Not Rocket Science: How to Choose Your Life Partner” is also insightful. Not only good suggestions for the young couple, but I’m also still teachable 🙂
with appreciation,
Jean
Marko @ calmgrowth says
Live here and now is one of the most powerful change in my understanding of reality ever, that brought to me many benefits and improvement in my everyday life.
Nice thoughts…
Gail Brenner says
I’m so happy for your realizations, Marko! Living here and now – so simple, but not always easy in the beginning. Once we surrender into the flow, life simply happens, and we live in appreciation.
I wish you well….