The Spirit of 2010

“We are not human beings in search of a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings immersed in a human experience.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Last week I attended a lecture by Marianne Williamson (one of my heroines and author of ‘A Return to Love’). She says its time to get serious about the business of being happy and to align ourselves with our spiritual journey. She reminded us that we are all on a spiritual journey, whether we know it or not, and that we receive lessons along the way to awaken us to that realization. For some that lesson comes as a devastating event – but it doesn’t have to be so painful, our choice is whether we are willing to learn through Joy or Fear.

Inspired by her I started to review the last year and recognized that every month for the last 12 months my lessons have been painful, heart-wrenching experiences that floored me. I then turned to my husband and said ‘I think it is time for me to be willing to learn my lessons more easily, I don’t want another 12 months of extra homework’. It was then I realized that I could set goals for what I wanted for 2010.

I looked at different areas in my life: Health, Relationship, Work, Finances, Family & Friends etc. and started working on what I would like to see improve, grow and develop in each of these areas. I always thought that writing New Year Resolutions was just an exercise in cataloguing failure each year – but now I am feeling really excited about the potential available to me. I even started setting goals with my husband around our relationship and we are now excitedly planning our trip to Rome next year to see the Sistine Chapel!

We all drift so easily from week to week, year to year and many of our hopes and dreams get lost in the daily distractions. I know I have so much to learn about everything, but especially about experiencing my life as a spiritual journey. When I start to view my world from that perspective suddenly every area of my life is filled with the joy of untapped potential. Of course there are some very scary areas that I need to address – but even the idea of wanting to do that provides me with courage because I can see what is on offer on the other side.