Wednesday, December 30, 2009

2010: New Decade, Fresh Perspectives & Tips for Manifesting

The annual tradition of tying up loose ends, starting fresh, and making wild promises is upon us, and yet this time around it seems like more. It’s a fresh decade, and while “the tens” may not roll off the tongue, their introduction ought give us time for pause.

Ten years ago, we partied like it was 1999, because it was. We hoped the Y2K bug wouldn’t cancel our bank balances, or send off missiles, while
we secretly hoped that the year 2000 meant we’d all get our own jetpacks.

Take a moment to reflect on that: on where you were, who you were, all that has transpired along your journey since. There have doubtless been days you’ve tried to wish away, and those you wished you could hold on to forever. People have left our lives, others have entered, and we ourselves have grown. Is there any way you could’ve envisioned your current self back in 1999? Probably not. Odds are, you’d be pretty amazed if you knew then what you know now.

These milestones of years, of decades, of evolving traditions, are perfect times for reflection, gratitude, and the making of new plans. Here are a few tips for resolving and manifesting in this new decade:

* Don’t simply resolve to quit things. Plan on replacing negative habits and patterns with positive choices, and focus on those.

* Every day is a fresh start. Failing yesterday is no reason to give up on today. Be better.

* Concentrate on what you want and not what you’re missing. As with driving, you steer toward what you’re looking at. If you focus on your bills, you will always have bills; if you remember your abundance, you will have abundance. If you want love, practice compassion, faith, and self-love.

* Visualize until it feels true. Want that promotion? Picture yourself behind that desk, gazing out your new corner office window. Allow yourself the pride, relief, joy, that you’ve made it.

*Positive energy snowballs just as well as negative, and the most common quality in happy people is the desire to be happy. You can only hold one thought at any given moment. Choose a happy thought.

* Remember to be your best self. Trying to be someone else’s best sets you up for failure. Find your voice and revel in it; love yourself for it.

* Life is too short for hate. That goes for others, and yourself. You will be amazed at how loving and respecting yourself will change your perception, and how others perceive you. Look in the mirror and tell yourself you love yourself. Do it. Preferably naked. You are beautiful. Now celebrate with a cookie.

* Remember to give thanks for the little things, the moments of kindness shared with strangers, the fleeting moments of beauty and perfection. Give thanks not only so that there may be more of them, but so they may stay with you longer, in heart and mind. Compassion is contagious.

* If we all vow to do unto others this year, as we would have them do unto us, this year will be blissful.

May your life be filled with abundance and joy,
and may you always be aware that it is.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Poet

A dead poet once called her a serial kisser with heartbreaker eyes.

He died quietly while she was falling elsewhere
into the candy floss of love and daydreams that he felt only heroes could withstand.

She woke up the day they found him
smiling with another man and thinking of nothing like death
when he turned everything he'd ever said into words frozen between quotation marks
and every straight line broken.

She turned her occasionally dark thoughts onto matters of mortality for a moment
and let herself wallow in this new kind of loss until it fell away of its own accord
leaving only fragmented memories and oddly lit scenes
like the books he meant to write
and tear jerking movies.

She saved the letter where he told her how hard he wished and how much he cared;
hoped he had thrown out the letter of her reply where she tried so kindly to say
no
again.

She moved on;
wiser with life,
and older by days,
and rarely grasping
what she had once meant.