It’s the time of year when thoughts arise like this . . .

The end of the year marks the end of a cycle.

But what is the end of cycle, really?

It’s a time for letting go.

Before you make plans, set goals, resolve to be different . . . breathe . . . and let go.

Otherwise you’ll have more of this . . .

There’s a way to transform your to-do list.

It’s by attending to what comes before the to-do list arises.

What is that? It’s stillness.

Every cycle ends with stillness . . . with a deep and silent pause.

It’s easy to miss this pause.

To skip past it or to give it just the briefest glance before hurtling into the new year. This is what creates the tyrant to-do list.

Instead of hurtling and rushing. Be still.

Allow yourself to fully experience the pause and recognize: Only by letting go of the old forms can you make space for something new to be born.

It’s the end of a cycle.

So, pause. Breathe.

You’ve outgrown the beliefs, attitudes, images, structures, and goals that defined you in the past.

The visions that inspired you in the last cycle (whether it was a year-long, a decade-long, or a day-long) have out-lived their usefulness. The self that you identified with has become outmoded.

The end of the cycle is the time of profound letting go.

Your work is to let go, to be still, without knowing how you will be re-formed.

You will be re-formed. Life is endlessly inventive; ceaselessly creative. You don’t need to rush things.

If you react to the thoughts that demand immediate action—you’ll be out of synch with the natural movement of your true life.

At the end of the cycle—the way forward comes through letting go and surrender.

Now is the time to shed the thoughts and beliefs that guided you through the past cycle. To let go and allow your dissolving identity to . . . um . . . dissolve.

Then what?

As your old identity dissolves, the stillness deepens.

As you rest in stillness—without clinging to the past or straining towards the future – something that you can’t plan for happens.

Within the stillness, the creative impulse of your soul stirs. You can’t plan it. But you can notice it. You can embrace it.

You can celebrate and embody it.

Happy New Year!

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Editor: Bryonie Wise