As we begin another New Year, the newspapers, TV and cyberspace are filled with experts giving us advice on how to better our lives, lose weight, gain confidence, exercise more, eat less, make money, get a better job/partner/credit rating - in short, how to be a new, improved person.  That’s all very well, and I send blessings to those who are hoping to change their lives following such guidance. 
 
But I’d like to offer another view, for I’ve found that such suggestions have somewhat limited usefulness, largely because they’re based on the illusion that The Past and The Future are two separate entities, neatly divided by a straight line running through The Present.  The assumption being that if you can just summon enough willpower and discipline, you’ll be able to dissect yourself into discrete parts, leaving the Undesirable You and Imperfect Past behind in order to leap into the New You existing in a Perfect Future.  But our lives are simultaneously much messier and more magnificent than that.  Messier, because there are no clear lines; magnificent, because there is so much more than just you at work.  Contemporary science is finding ever more evidence that all natural systems – from galaxies to termite colonies, from people to protozoa - grow through chaos.  While there does seem to be an underlying order to the process, we change in seemingly random leaps and lurches, with peaks and valleys that can’t be planned, predicted or manipulated.  On the other hand, than means our lives are also much more complex and wondrous than we can imagine.  It just tends to take some time for most of us to catch on, because we’re so busy struggling through life, trying to accomplish things under our own steam, using our willpower to create our desired outcomes. 
 
But there is another way that beckons you.  And it unfolds as you learn to accept and appreciate your Divinity as well as your humanity.  It invites you to embrace the unlimited resources and boundless creativity available when you make a conscious choice to align and allow your Higher Power to guide and ground you.  And that this choice is one you must make again and again.
 
I don’t pretend to know how that looks in your life, much less where you are in that process.  I do know that the first step, and a very vital step, is to love and accept yourself (and all of your circumstances), just the way you are.  It’s difficult to lose weight, quit smoking, find a new job, or make any other significant change without first making peace with the body, habits, and circumstances that have brought you to where you are currently.  The chances are that even if you get some short-term results, you are doomed to disappointment in the long run, because you are in competition with yourself, which is a game you can never win.
 
Why not start the New Year loving and blessing yourself and all your Magnificence — past, present and future.  Make room for all that is coming your way as you align with Spirit, knowing that while you have to do it by yourself, you don’t have to do it alone.  For you are surrounded by Divine Love, made manifest in many, many ways that you may not fully understand, but that you can always trust.  It certainly helps to be part of a spiritual community like the Celebration Circle and surround yourself with loving people and gatherings that support your consciousness.  That’s why I really look forward to seeing you around the Circle, for my sake, as well as yours!  But it’s also important to remember that you are surrounded by loving people and possibilities wherever you are, whatever you do.  Yesterday, today and tomorrow, there is but One Presence and One Power:  Love.  That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
 
With blessings and best wishes for your health and happiness,

Rudolf