Each time you say something. It’s a risk. Someone could shoot it down. Each time you stand up for what you believe in. It’s a risk. Someone could attack your deeply held belief. Each time you dream, wish, hope. It’s a risk. You could fail. Each time you open your heart. It’s a risk. You could get hurt. Each time you create and share what you’ve created. It’s a risk. The world could deride you, ignore you, crush you.
It takes courage. Just to exist. Just to get up every morning and then be yourself that day. Be your true, authentic self. It take courage to look the world in the eye when you know that the world will see your sorrows, see your pain, see your weaknesses, see your fears. And then it takes something more than courage to sustain that eye contact, state your intent and then mould the world through your inner fire, through your living breath, through your indomitable will into the shape you want to give it. It takes faith. Faith in yourself, in your vision, in your integrity, in your choices.
It takes hope. To go on living from day to day. Where every day you learn. Where every day you’re humbled by how much more there is still to learn. It takes courage to be willing to learn. Because if you want to learn, you have to admit there is something you don’t know. Because to learn you need to be humble. And then when you’ve learned, you find you need more courage to break out of your old shell, to come out of your safe place, to stand center stage, with the spot light shining on you, with the world watching…will you soar or will you fall? If you fail, you have to be strong to survive that failure. If you succeed, you have to be strong to sustain that success.
If you just drew a breath, you’re already there. Because that breath will make you live longer, because just by breathing you’re choosing to live. And it takes tremendous courage, my friend, to live. To live in a world where no one is guaranteed love or happiness or security. What sustain us? I’m not curious about beings from another planet; beings from my own planet awe me with their tremendous courage, with their incredible resilience, with their never-ending faith. Their faith in themselves and in life, that, yes, this is indeed a life worth living. So where is all this faith and courage coming from? From your core. From the deepest part of you where resides the true meaning of your being, from the part of you touched by divinity, from the part of you fashioned by life’s love for itself. From a part of you that is sacred.
In about twenty-four hours from now, our calendars will change, heralding a new year. Such an arbitrary measure of time. But so psychologically potent. Stepping into a new tomorrow. Older, wiser, trailing a slew of mistakes, trailing a blaze of glory. So what do I wish you on the eve of the new year? I could wish you success, peace, happiness, love. And, yes, I do wish you those. But my biggest wish for you this coming year is that you find your core. That you discover your inherent value and having found it, you nurture it, and let it sustain you.
Galaxies come into being and pass away into oblivion. The world spins on its axis and it will keep spinning after I am gone, after you are gone. But we existed you and I, we were here, we saw, we lived, we loved, we cried. And while I’m just an idea in your head and you in mine, there were moments when we intermingled our essences, when we came together in this vast span of space and time, performed our parts, then took our bows before we left the stage. We added meaning to the moments we lived, whether we lived those moments alone or with someone else.
Because you exist, so does life, so does value, so does meaning. Happy New Year!
