Coastline Pilot

Janaury 3, 2003

 

Chasing the Muse

By Catharine Cooper

 

Wow.  That was fast.  2002, I mean.  Wasn’t it just January?  And when did the festival end?  Oh, well.  The ‘ha, ha,’ ha,’ (my version of ‘ho, ho, ho’) has been put away for eleven months, and 2003 spreads herself wide across the room.  The magical moment of clearing the slate has come once again – the eve of the old, and the dawn of the new.

 

We get to make New Year’s Resolutions! We settle back, review and reflect on the past year, and call into play what we would like next in our lives.   We can pronounce a dream and make a plan to move toward it.   This is the space of commitments and goals.

 

I’m betting two of the most popular resolutions are diet and exercise.  Coming on the heels of several large celebratory meals, the waistline of most of us shoves against the belt.  But the decision to spend more time in the gym and eat on the lean side seems simply like common sense.  I’m hoping the next most popular resolutions are about spending more time with family and friends – something that would benefit us all and create richer and fuller lives. 

 

Last year, rather than a laundry list of personal items to address, I tried a different tack.  I resolved to embrace challenges and obstacles.  I wasn’t exactly sure how this would manifest, but I was clear that my intention was to change my relationship to adversity.   As usual, be careful what you ask for!  Every time a piece of equipment broke (which seemed more often than not), or I was disappointed at the outcome of an interchange, I had to remember that I had asked for the opportunity to look at obstacles and turn them to my friends.  Rather than the pity pot, I had given myself the gift of being solution oriented without strife or whining.

 

I’d love to let go of those two, find an easy resolution for the New Year, but that would fly in the face of all the hard work I’ve done.  To find the next resolution requires that I fast forward to the end of 2003, and name an attribute that I would like to claim as my own.  To see myself as a person with a different skill set than I currently possess.

 

What I’ve decided to commit to is an increased understanding of the events and people that inhabit my world.  This should help me think – before I jump to a conclusion.  This should help me pause  - before I determine what is right or wrong.  This should slow down my judgments and allow me to see more clearly, rather than assume that I know an answer.   This should even let me love more cleanly.  

 

For giggles, I think I’ll throw in patience.  Now, I’m really going to get things cooking.

 

As the old passes to the new, I continue to be grateful for the gift of good friends, the laughter that echoes through the canyon walls, and the incredible fortune to live and work in Laguna Beach.  I gaze at our scenic hillsides and our lovely ocean coves, I engage in our entertaining political landscape, and I know that I am one of the luckiest people on the planet.

 

Happy New Year.

 

--xx--