excerpt from a Dharma Talk offered on December 29, 2013 by Thich Nhat Hanh. From Plumvillage.org
The year that is going to end is our invention, our fabrication, our product. The value of the year depends on our way of acting and reacting, on our way of living our life. If we do not master the practice of generating joy and happiness, if we do not know how to handle painful feelings and emotions, we are going to repeat that in the new year. And the new year will not be very new, but a repetition of the old year. So, for the year to be new, you have to renew yourself. You have to make yourself new.
When I was a child, I seldom got new clothes or new things in general. The exception to that was the late summer trip with my grandparents, Gigi & Nandaddy, to buy school supplies and new shoes. We would also get a new outfit or a new winter coat. That may not sound like much but to a kid who almost always shopped at thrift stores, new was a huge deal.
We would load into Nandaddy’s Bonneville and head down to the Woolworth’s department store. My nerves would be quivering as we walked into that newness. New smell, new clothes, new shoes whose soles weren’t already worn. We also would go to the Walgreen’s to get school supplies…oh for a box of new Crayola crayons. I coveted the box of 164 but was so grateful for the box of 16.
My new year was marked by that trip. It wasn’t just the new stuff though that was important. Since I was most often in a new school because of how often we moved, It was the possibility that maybe in this new school, I might find friendship and acceptance and not be the one targeted by the school bully or mean girls. Maybe someone would want to share my box of crayons.
As an adult the traditions were a little different but how often I’ve looked to an external “new” as a time for an internal change. The possibility associated with a new job, new retirement, new relationship, or new car for the development of new habits or new feelings that I’ve long wished for.
The reality is that the new year begins each moment I open my eyes in the morning and with each new breath I take. Each moment is the continuation of the adventure of my life and offers me the opportunity to choose to love more deeply, stay in touch better, and to start or continue practices that make my soul and life richer.
So, yes, let us celebrate the new year but let us also remember that each new day, each new moment, is a new beginning, filled with opportunity to live with intention.
And although external things won’t bring the internal peace and joy my soul craves, I am still going to treat myself to new box of crayons.