By Karen Johannsen
A few years ago I ran across an article by the goddess guru, Danielle LaPorte, who made the rebellious statement to NOT WRITE NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS!!
What? I had been doing that, not very successfully, for years. Danielle went on to say that it was more important to consider how we wanted to feel in the new year. What kind of energy did we want to bring to this new beginning? The suggestion was made that we consider the feelings we most wanted to embody. She then asked the question, “What do you need to do to feel this way more often?”
Go and do that this year.
My list was fairly simple: I wanted to feel calm, joyful, energetic and enthusiastic. My “doing” list contained the traditional things...meditate to feel calmer, dance more and spend time with my grandchildren to feel joyful, exercise and try to get good sleep to feel more energetic, and surrender my fears so I could touch into my natural state of curiosity and excitement.
In the midst of compiling this list, a most profound insight came from an unexpected source. Reading an article by David Spangler, he told the story of his first car. How he loved that car, and every time he drove it he felt such love and gratitude that it was his. And the car never broke down. It drove like a charm for him. His father, who gave him the car, really didn’t like it, but bought it because it was a good deal. Well, every time his father happened to drive the car something went wrong. David’s 16-year-old mind concurred that the car must respond to whatever energy was directed toward it.
This is not a new revelation. David, especially, has written books about this subtle energy and how we interact with it. But this time I could feel there was something there for me to pay attention to. I began thinking about it in terms of my insomnia and how I went to bed sort of dreading the night. My poor bed! Having to take in all that negative energy!!! So, I began sending it loving thoughts, grateful that I had a bed and that it supported me so well. It didn’t cure my insomnia, but I went to bed feeling lighter, with a sense of appreciation and gratitude rather than apprehension.
Then a few months later another piece by David, from his Borderlands pamphlet, explored in more detail the cooperative energy that we can establish with our own environments. Connecting with his inner allies, David was told:
“It’s important to heighten awareness of the life that surrounds you, not just in nature where you expect it but in the environment you have built and the things you have produced. Connecting with this life in blessing and partnership is increasingly important.”
After reading this, I realized that I could expand the concept of loving attention to my home and even the land upon which it stands. I began actively invoking a connection with my living room, my kitchen, all the energies that make up my entire home. As I did this, I could feel the shift in my heart. It opened in a new way. I don’t see beings, like David does, but I began to imagine that I could. I tried to visualize these energies as alive and responsive to my invitation.
It began to resonate with me that everything in my home was sacred and alive, in a certain sense. In a way I felt a sense of deepening responsibility. Now I had to consider that all my feelings, thoughts, words, were having an impact. And what kind of an impact did I want to transmit? What kind of energy did I want to surround myself with?
As I’ve practiced this more and more, I feel the connection more strongly. I walk through my home differently, taking care to acknowledge the beings that I sense are there and appreciating how we uphold and support one another. It is a partnership after all and I feel the blessing in that.
I’ve made a decision that I want to stay in this home as long as it is possible for me. Living in a place that feels filled with love and connection is not a bad way to spend my remaining years.
And my New Year’s non-resolutions? The sense of calm and joy that comes over me when I attune to this energy is with me every day. It gives me energy and helps me surrender to a deeper knowing that I am always held, always supported and never alone.