Being Present in the New Year
Written by: Mike Murawski
A new year is often a time filled with goal-setting and resolutions. For me, that has often meant reflecting on the past year and looking toward the future with ambitious plans (“this is the year I’m finally going to [fill in the blank]”). And since 2020 was such a tumultuous and challenging year for so many of us, it makes sense for us to be excited about moving forward and setting plans for the year ahead. As a creative and entrepreneur, it seems natural to plot out the months ahead, set personal and professional goals, and envision a moment past this pandemic.
Yet the beginning of a new year is also an important time to learn how to be present in the moment, in the here and now. Through all the joy and grief we might be experiencing as we transition into the new year of 2021, we can all benefit from practicing a few new habits of gratitude, care, mindfulness, and personal reflection.
For me personally, 2020 was a year that taught me so much about the importance of mindfulness and being in the present moment, no matter what dramatic changes life was going to throw at me and my family. In her transformative book When Things Fall Apart, Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön writes:
“This very moment is the perfect teacher.”
Learning to be in the present is an important way for us to connect with what we are experiencing and feeling (including all that fear, anxiety, and uncertainty), and find meaning in these experiences.
Planning for the future has certainly felt futile for much of the past year (and still feels a bit that way now, to be honest). So I have been working to develop a few habits of connecting with the present moment and what it has to teach me, including developing a practice of gratitude, care, and personal growth. Sometimes this has meant just taking a few deep breaths, going for a walk in the neighborhood, taking some quiet morning time to journal, and stopping to recognize the simple or small things bringing me moments of joy in my life.
Finding and Celebrating Moments of Joy
At any given moment, there is so much beauty and joy around us, yet we are too often stuck in our routines of work, responsibilities, and distractions. I am certainly guilty of staring at my smartphone screen scrolling through Twitter, email, or the news. And at the end of a day or week, I find that I haven’t recognized or paid attention to much that is bringing me joy, since it’s easier to focus on the things that bring me anxiety or worry.
To break this pattern, I am learning to take a moment each day to recognize at least one thing that is bringing me joy and happiness right now. This tiny little practice may seem small, yet it opens us up to notice more of these moments of joy that we might otherwise ignore—a tiny flower popping out of the grass, a warm ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, an uplifting story on the radio, or a goofy joke told at the dinner table.
Through this practice, we can work to recognize and bring joy into all the parts of our life, no matter what dark clouds might be swirling around us.
Taking Care of Ourselves and the World Around Us
As we head into a new year, it’s also important to focus on a practice of care. Yes, this means caring for ourselves and embracing all the “self care” strategies that we have picked up during the quarantines and lockdowns of the pandemic. It also means finding ways to care for those around us and to nurture and give back to our planet.
In her book Healing Justice: Self-Care for Change Makers, mindfulness scholar Loretta Pyles notes:
“self-care becomes just as much about being in relationship with and connected to others and the world as it is to oneself.”
Connecting with others may seem like a challenge right now, yet we can recognize and honor the connections we’ve been able to make with people through video chats and Zoom calls even if they don’t feel the same as being in the same space.
Care can extend beyond ourselves and the people around us too. Many of our self care practices within our family include spending time out in nature, as I’ve written about previously on our blog. In addition to receiving the benefits of this time spent connecting with the more-than-human world around us, we can find small ways to give back to nature and nurture our planet. As plant ecologist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer writes in her book Braiding Sweetgrass:
“To love a place is not enough. We must find ways to heal it.”
This can be as simple as picking up litter along our walks in the outdoors, putting some bird seed out on a cold winter day, or adding some plants to our garden that provide food or nesting spots for our animal and bird friends. We are an interconnected and inseparable part of our natural environment, so nurturing our planet also means nurturing ourselves.
Reflecting on Our Inner Values
Even for those of us who cannot resist the desire to plot out our goals for the year, the beginning of a new year is a great time to reflect on the inner values and beliefs that we hold dear. Above all else, what matters to you the most right now? Make a list of what you value most in life, without any worries about whether it includes everything or whether the words are perfect. Circle the words or phrases that bring you the most warmth and joy. Now take a brief moment each day or each week to reflect on these words, asking yourself if your actions each day align with these inner values.
After reading Jerry Colonna’s book Reboot, which focuses on the importance of radical self-inquiry, I have been reflecting on my inner standards of integrity and what matters most to me in the present moment. In Colonna’s words:
“Remember who you are, what you believe about the world, and then, risks be damned, lead from that place.”
The core values and beliefs that we hold dear can offer us a solid foundation as we take each step along life’s path.
Recognizing Our Personal Growth and Learning
As we head into a new year, we often feel the pressure toward self-improvement. Are we going to start running this year, begin a new diet, or read a book every week? As we scroll through social media right now, we see people publicly sharing all kinds of goals and self-improvement challenges. At the core of all of this is our natural tendency to want to be our best self, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
We’re actually learning and growing all the time, whether we set lofty New Years resolutions or not. So perhaps the start of this new year can be a time when we simply recognize the ways in which we grow and learn, and make a bit more time for those activities in our day. Maybe that’s listening to a podcast, writing in a journal, reading a book that’s been gathering dust on our shelf. Being present in the moment can mean treating ourselves with kindness and gentleness, and appreciating all of the ways we are already bringing personal growth into our lives.
A Gentle Start
Being kind to ourselves may truly be the best way to start a new year, and these practices of gratitude, care, and personal reflection are some of the ways I am trying to stay grounded as we enter 2021.
If you need a gentle way to get started, I’ve created a simple reflection page that you can print out and use at any moment. These could be questions you ask yourself each day, at the end of each week, or during moments when you feel a bit stuck. The quotes included also offer us a starting point for our own reflections and self-inquiry.
Here’s to being more present in the new year, and beyond!