Ring The Changes

Happy New Year World! This year I’m really going to look after you. I will respect your beauty, your forests, rivers and mountains. I will treasure the fauna, the creatures the oceans, the birds. I will delight in discovery of your deepest secrets. And, having fulfilled my mission, I will gladly yield my body to the earth so that it may nourish continuation. May I leave the world a richer place or at least ‘Curran Neutral’ so that future generations can also delight in its abundance. In showing respect for the planet and all it contains, it naturally follows that I must respect myself. I look after my body as the vehicle that takes me on my travels. My body is the tool I use to interface with the world and to accomplish my assigned task it is always the best tool for the job – at times blunt or sharp, hot or cold, heavy or light, nimble or methodical, quick or slow. It is important then that I hone its capabilities and am attentive to its needs. As far as possible I will avoid physical pitfalls of polluted air, water and food or mental and spiritual pitfalls of disengagement, apathy and selfishness. Instead I seek out the richest nourishment from food, culture and community. So how best to do this? Jon Kabat-Zinn offers a very good guide. Each one of us must tackle these issues according to our unique circumstances and as directed by that Divine inner compass. As he tells us ‘Once the universe is your employer, very interesting things start to happen even if someone else is cutting your paycheck’ This is about finding that thing which we are moved to do and devoting all our resources to doing it while constantly refining our ability to do so. It may not mean that you have to change what you do but rather how you see it or perhaps how you do it. So when it comes to New Year resolutions there need be only one – Let me be steered by Divine guidance so that I may fulfil my unique role in the world. May I marshal all my resources in this pursuit confident in the knowledge that I am always the best tool for the job.