For a New Beginning

For some January 1 marked the beginning of the new year, for others that recognition will come on the 25^th, the lunar new year.  However you understand this beginning, may you listen to the places and spaces of your heart and to what is readying itself to emerge, with some help from John O’Donohue, and his poem For a New Beginning.

For a New Beginning

by John O’Donohue

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

From John O’Donohue’s book
To Bless the Space Between Us

Read John O’Donohue’s poem In Praise of Air. Also, more seasonally inspired poems can be found here and here. For seasonal and nature-based offerings head to classes.