Hello Friends,

So here we are, nine days into 2018.

I wonder how each of you cross this annual threshold. Do you have a ritual? A way to close one year…or open the next?

I like to look back on the past year and see where I can connect the dots. Were there any patterns? Was there a set point? An overall feeling … or a series of independent messages that, only in hindsight, form a greater picture?

In my own life, 2017 was a year about boundaries. What can I live with…what can’t I? How can I help make something better, without giving too much? Where am I called to action? When do I give myself permission to devote my energy elsewhere? While these are questions (as they appear on paper), in my mind’s eye, I think of them more as statements. They function as an internal GPS. The moment they are presented…the answer reveals itself. The course, suddenly clearer.

Related to this was staying in the discomfort, acknowledging how it is and (just as much) how it isn’t. Being able to exist with multiple realities, various extremes, conflicting stories, opposing views; disappointments and victories, within the same minute.

I go into this year knowing that these themes may continue, but despite them or because of them, I will commit to putting one foot in front of the other, with full presence, integrity and service. I can’t really promise more than that. I do this knowing that there are questions I can’t answer, grief’s I can’t solve, aspirations that hold a future hope — but as of yet — little evidence. There is light and joy right here, under my feet, within reach, and also the things that remain unresolved — but not unseen.

How can I answer my own calling — when sometimes I can’t even hear it?
How can I watch for signs — but still do the work — whether they show up or not?

I’m not waiting for answers. That’s not the point of the asking. But if I had a resolution, being brave enough to ask the questions would be it.

This is my work.
What is yours?