So many amazing responses and reflections, poems and insights.
I have been working on writing a new song. The idea came from Howard Thurman's meditation, I
Will Write a New Song. It has been an ongoing attempt to change the lyrics from the old song my mind keeps singing in my head. Leaning into everything as it comes and receiving it as blessing and possibility. Sing a new song:
Open to all that arrives, I am ready to see where it will take me.
Speak up rather than wonder if what I say will be received rather than speaking my truth and values without restraint.
This prayer arose one day as I was meditating:
May I see
May I hear
May my voice speak
May I love as The Divine loves
As I write this, I realize that this prayer is as much for me as for the world beyond me.
I am grateful as always to Carrie for bringing her wisdom to us and to the opportunity to hear others reflections and questions.
Absolutely love this approach and reflections! thank you for sharing. Really resonates.
I particularly love .. Welcome “a year full of things that have never been” and trust that the way forward may not look like the way behind. How easy I go back to how things 'should' look like based on how they have been! To a more mindful year :)
I expected you to offer a pithy and meaningful insight for the New Year… I had no inkling you would turn my head and heart inside out ... Ironically, I am prompted to comment because your post hums with resonances too deep for words, and I am grasping in the dark for ways to articulate what I am intuiting. Some of your phrases pulse with promise:
• “intentionally open up our minds to a whole new way of thinking…” leads me ‘to open our hearts to a whole new way of being.’
• “good resolutions are based upon what I already know, and my desire…” what if I am not only open to being disillusioned, but to being de-centered - acknowledging that “I” am not the center of my Life… but actually orbiting in LIFE’s gravitational field?
• “what if I listened to what sings at the center of my heart…” that there is a voice, a song, resonating in my heart – not originating there – but awakening it, offering abundance of Light & Life should I sing in the chorus and join in the dance.
Not sure about all this… but your words have helped me notice that there is a crack in the heavens, and something more splendid lies beyond the limits I imagined - beckoning, always beckoning. Thanks.
Courage is the word that has been foremost in my vision as this new year begins. Reading and rereading your revolutions bring focus to the reality that one of the hidden gifts in the need to be courageous is it is essential to be true to myself, so seek and reflect the beauty and goodness - the Light. As always, your songs, Carrie, are the prayer that brings my soul to a clearer center and provides stepping stones to move forward on my journey.
I appreciate this post and particularly this song in light of Epiphany. Wondering if I might have permission to incorporate the song into a sermon this Sunday, January 5?
You Motivated me to look up a poem, I wrote quite a few years ago, while I was living in San Francisco with a friend who kindly gave me refuge after my company had gone bankrupt. I wanted to find a poem for a Poetry group I go to, and I will share it with you.
I love your New Years revolution. Your music and messages are uplifting to me. I always feel good and positive after reading or listening. Thank for making my days beautiful.
Forgot to add that if anyone is interested in attending the "Writing the Prologue to Your New Year" Online retreat Sat Jan 11, sponsored by the Siena Retreat Center in Racine, WI, here is the registration link to join the Zoom call: https://www.sienaretreatcenter.org/retreats/writing-the-prologue-to-your-new-year/ Would love to see you!
I love your “revolutions” and so glad to hear that you are doing your “Writing the Prologue to the New Year”, and that it is sponsored by the good folks at The Sienna Retreat Center! I hope folks check out your link, I’m sure it will be an amazing event.
I am very taken with this idea of New Year's revolutions, rather than resolutions. To my mind, resolutions as as easily broken as made, for they are little more than a to do list. For the past several years, I've sat down and written a letter to myself outlining my vision for the coming year. I call it Writing the Prologue to the New Year, and in fact offer a retreat every January on that theme, and have all the participants write this letter, which is like writing the plot to what they plan to see unfold. To this practice, I will now add writing my "revolutions." Here are a few that came to mind for 2025:
To turn laments for what isn't into gratitude for what is
To increase my orbit around an ever-expanding universe of friends
To look beyond appearances and be open to seeing "the real behind the real"
To sing heartily of the goodness I see in the world and share generously of the goodness in me
To welcome any setback as a door to something different and perhaps better
To walk toward the new with confidence that I am braver, stronger and more capable than I might believe
To remember that I have accomplished many times what I at first thought impossible and can do it again
To be mindful and attentive to those moments when blessings arrive unexpected and sometimes even undeserved from invisible (or even visible) hands
Thank you Carrie for another transformative reflection!
Very poignant and inspiring as always, Carrie. Much appreciation for all the ways and all the moments you have offered a perspective of a different road, a different choice. Blessings.
Greetings and indeed a happy healthy New year to everyone
My new step, revolution, is semi retirement. To do somethings I haven't done before perhaps, or to really see how and what will I do to be more content and find a new part time gig , and keep living frugal, to support this step I'm taking. A risk of utter failure is there , I've set up plan b, c, and d and I will see if it is anywhere close to my dream.
So many amazing responses and reflections, poems and insights.
I have been working on writing a new song. The idea came from Howard Thurman's meditation, I
Will Write a New Song. It has been an ongoing attempt to change the lyrics from the old song my mind keeps singing in my head. Leaning into everything as it comes and receiving it as blessing and possibility. Sing a new song:
Open to all that arrives, I am ready to see where it will take me.
Speak up rather than wonder if what I say will be received rather than speaking my truth and values without restraint.
This prayer arose one day as I was meditating:
May I see
May I hear
May my voice speak
May I love as The Divine loves
As I write this, I realize that this prayer is as much for me as for the world beyond me.
I am grateful as always to Carrie for bringing her wisdom to us and to the opportunity to hear others reflections and questions.
Emergency backup dog! I love it! 😂
Absolutely love this approach and reflections! thank you for sharing. Really resonates.
I particularly love .. Welcome “a year full of things that have never been” and trust that the way forward may not look like the way behind. How easy I go back to how things 'should' look like based on how they have been! To a more mindful year :)
Well, you sure have given me a wondrous revolution.
Nothing like what we’ve been playing with has ever revolved around me 😊😊😊
I expected you to offer a pithy and meaningful insight for the New Year… I had no inkling you would turn my head and heart inside out ... Ironically, I am prompted to comment because your post hums with resonances too deep for words, and I am grasping in the dark for ways to articulate what I am intuiting. Some of your phrases pulse with promise:
• “intentionally open up our minds to a whole new way of thinking…” leads me ‘to open our hearts to a whole new way of being.’
• “good resolutions are based upon what I already know, and my desire…” what if I am not only open to being disillusioned, but to being de-centered - acknowledging that “I” am not the center of my Life… but actually orbiting in LIFE’s gravitational field?
• “what if I listened to what sings at the center of my heart…” that there is a voice, a song, resonating in my heart – not originating there – but awakening it, offering abundance of Light & Life should I sing in the chorus and join in the dance.
Not sure about all this… but your words have helped me notice that there is a crack in the heavens, and something more splendid lies beyond the limits I imagined - beckoning, always beckoning. Thanks.
Evolving
Revolving
Absorbing
Unfolding
Returning
Courage is the word that has been foremost in my vision as this new year begins. Reading and rereading your revolutions bring focus to the reality that one of the hidden gifts in the need to be courageous is it is essential to be true to myself, so seek and reflect the beauty and goodness - the Light. As always, your songs, Carrie, are the prayer that brings my soul to a clearer center and provides stepping stones to move forward on my journey.
I appreciate this post and particularly this song in light of Epiphany. Wondering if I might have permission to incorporate the song into a sermon this Sunday, January 5?
You Motivated me to look up a poem, I wrote quite a few years ago, while I was living in San Francisco with a friend who kindly gave me refuge after my company had gone bankrupt. I wanted to find a poem for a Poetry group I go to, and I will share it with you.
BLESSINGS
Don't laugh when you pay attention
to the details,
Sometimes it is the flowers,
the candle glow, the antique serving spoons,
that dissolve the icy darkness.
That allow the slow opening,
petal by petal by petal,
The incubation in a warm space,
that is too important to leave
right now.
Darkness softens into blue sky,
and Koi fish, silver tipped bushes,
pre-historic trees, prove
that the past, while interesting,
needs a tightly controlled environment
to flourish.
Blue-faced sun at midnight presides over
a banquet filled with blessings,
gentle wafers dissolving in tears,
and on the tongue.
Words of resolution "revolution"
evolve towards the light.
Sharon Gilbert
I love your New Years revolution. Your music and messages are uplifting to me. I always feel good and positive after reading or listening. Thank for making my days beautiful.
Forgot to add that if anyone is interested in attending the "Writing the Prologue to Your New Year" Online retreat Sat Jan 11, sponsored by the Siena Retreat Center in Racine, WI, here is the registration link to join the Zoom call: https://www.sienaretreatcenter.org/retreats/writing-the-prologue-to-your-new-year/ Would love to see you!
I love your “revolutions” and so glad to hear that you are doing your “Writing the Prologue to the New Year”, and that it is sponsored by the good folks at The Sienna Retreat Center! I hope folks check out your link, I’m sure it will be an amazing event.
I am very taken with this idea of New Year's revolutions, rather than resolutions. To my mind, resolutions as as easily broken as made, for they are little more than a to do list. For the past several years, I've sat down and written a letter to myself outlining my vision for the coming year. I call it Writing the Prologue to the New Year, and in fact offer a retreat every January on that theme, and have all the participants write this letter, which is like writing the plot to what they plan to see unfold. To this practice, I will now add writing my "revolutions." Here are a few that came to mind for 2025:
To turn laments for what isn't into gratitude for what is
To increase my orbit around an ever-expanding universe of friends
To look beyond appearances and be open to seeing "the real behind the real"
To sing heartily of the goodness I see in the world and share generously of the goodness in me
To welcome any setback as a door to something different and perhaps better
To walk toward the new with confidence that I am braver, stronger and more capable than I might believe
To remember that I have accomplished many times what I at first thought impossible and can do it again
To be mindful and attentive to those moments when blessings arrive unexpected and sometimes even undeserved from invisible (or even visible) hands
Thank you Carrie for another transformative reflection!
Very poignant and inspiring as always, Carrie. Much appreciation for all the ways and all the moments you have offered a perspective of a different road, a different choice. Blessings.
Thank you Carrie
GOD Bless! I love your music, and each song comes with a lesson.
Excellent ideas , wishes , and dreams☮️🐧
Greetings and indeed a happy healthy New year to everyone
My new step, revolution, is semi retirement. To do somethings I haven't done before perhaps, or to really see how and what will I do to be more content and find a new part time gig , and keep living frugal, to support this step I'm taking. A risk of utter failure is there , I've set up plan b, c, and d and I will see if it is anywhere close to my dream.