I'm OK, You're OK and That's OK. Reflections on a Macrobiotic Year.

I'm OK, You're OK and That's OK.

Reflections on a Macrobiotic Year.

As 2013 flickers to an end, I have been contemplating the lessons I have learned this year.  The year end holidays can provide an opportunity for us to come together in a spirit of peace and good will or they can shed a harsh light on our differences including the way we choose to observe the holidays, our dietary differences, and our family dynamics.  I have been spending this time exploring the concepts of judgment and acceptance and the power they exert on us.

I was fortunate to participate in a year end workshop focusing on Sarah Susanka's book, The Not So Big Life.  She challenges the reader to ask these questions:  In the past year, what are the results of the actions I have taken?  How have I been changed by my sorrows and disappointments?  How can I integrate the key lessons of the past year into my life right now?

As I took the time to step away from the hubbub of the holidays and really meditate on my life choices this year, a seed of knowledge began to take shape and grow.  I realized that this has been a year of amazing new friendships, learning to set boundaries and tolerate the consequences, really listening and learning from others, becoming unbalanced and fumbling my way back to balance again and again and throwing judgment away.

The most challenging pill to swallow has been that life is NOT a fairy tale.  Good people suffer horrible, painful deaths instead of growing gracefully into old age.  Families misunderstand each other, holding grudges that may cause years of silence.  Loved ones move away and it rips your heart out.  Everyone doesn't get to enjoy a big, happy family gathered around them at holiday time.  Life is painfully lonely for many friends out there.  Even the fairy tales are fraught with frightening life challenges, too scary even for adults, much less the children to whom we read them!

Harsh judgment of ourselves and others is a culprit that seems to rear it's ugly head again and again.  We judge appearances, religious and dietary choices, and many other things.  Judgment divides us into " Us" and " Them".  It takes us away from our own pure, true self and the goodness of others.  It was trained into us as children and no longer serves us in our lives.  Acceptance breeds love and understanding and opens us up to the wonderful "different" people with whom we get to share this journey we call life.

Here are my own wishes and intentions for the new year and hopefully they will resonate with you.  

I am choosing to live in the now.  As my friend Charlie told me, " If you have one foot in the past, and one foot in the future, you can only piss on now."

I am choosing to forgive those who have hurt me in the past.

I am choosing to love and nurture myself, physically, emotionally and spiritually, honoring my needs and desires.

I am choosing to stop judging myself and others.

I am choosing to temper my expectations of myself and others in my life.

I am giving birth to a Susan who loves, appreciates and accepts her gifts and the precious gifts of others.  May each and every one of you choose to have a happy, healthy new year and share your wonderful gifts with others.

Please feel free to make a list of your intentions and reflections for the new year and post it here or on the Facebook page.  I would love to hear about them.