The year 2020 has come to an end, and we welcome a new spin around the sun. The year was far from what I ever could have imagined, and I struggled with acceptance. I was not mentally or emotionally willing for many of the challenges that were presented.

However, today I am entering this new year with a blank canvas for that which is yet to be revealed. I am accepting the miracle of new beginnings. I am committed to cultivating the word, acceptance.

I might not be able to change the outer circumstances, but I can fully respond with the acceptance of the now. For now, this situation, this moment requires me to live fully in allowing a shift in my consciousness.

It has been a complete year of letting go and offering the situation to arise with my full participation in seeing the good in each moment. I might not like it. I might find it unpleasant; and yet, I have the freedom to choose my acceptance of it.

I find immediately this shifts the flow of my energy and the performing of any task with a lessening of resistance. It allows for a full expansive feeling of peacefulness in the action. This quality of peacefulness is a subtle energy vibration that then flows throughout my state of mind. This flow of peaceful energy is my consciousness.

I am choosing to be content with what is happening versus being caught in my habit of reacting to what I find uncertain or unfamiliar. When my mind links to this state of mind, I am only in fear. Hence my tensions on a physical, mental, and emotional body/mind only increase. And this has been the main cause of exhaustion or mental despair. The year 2020 has brought us the opportunity to start shifting inward.

It became very clear that 2020 is asking us to change; and acceptance of that change can be difficult, messy, and uncomfortable. A huge part of change is in releasing the grip on what we know for the possibility of a new creative vision. True transformation happens when we completely surrender our attachments to the old and welcome what is not yet visible. We must be able to rest in the open space of uncertainty.

This messy transition was happening around me on every level. In my personal life, in my professional life, and in my inner spiritual life. The awakening was slow to be fully embraced, and it has been an ongoing practice throughout the ride of the past year.

Last year YAF became an on-line studio. I am not sure how my brilliant web-person, Therese, navigated us forward. I am forever grateful for her endless dedication and hours of support as we kept the studio connected to the community.

Our teachers’ willingness to jump into the deep end of the pool and swim those uncharted waters was beyond the grace of 2020. Their commitment and love of their students was greater than the fear of teaching remotely.

“Community” became our mantra and our full intention in accepting the new frontier. We painted, threw out the sweet reminders of the last 23 years, and found a place of tranquility as we zoomed ahead into 2021.

This past year continuously reminded me that I am not in control of the outer world. Three weeks ago a construction company started to use this Covid winter as a time to drain and dredge our sweet pond in the park in which my house faces. Every winter, I get my joy from watching neighborhood kids gather outside and skate. Often at night, under the stars, I can go out and skate in the quiet, alone with my inner thoughts. My ritual of winter as a sanctuary of peace with nature.

The village chose this winter after more than 40 years, to start this nasty and ugly endeavor. At first I was so disappointed that the one year in which I am not traveling anywhere, I am stuck at home to be a witness to the muck.

And then, the moment of awe graced my consciousness. I decided that this was only a metaphor for the great gifts awaiting in 2021. This project was the actually churning up of the mud. The act of bringing the darkness up from the bottom of the water was stirring my own agitations up to the surface of my own conscious awareness.

I could shift my attitude and just accept it. Accept that this project is long overdue, that there is so much clutter in that pond where over the years people threw their old tires, sinks, and general shit. This was the clearing out.

I could accept this as a grace unfolding. Come spring when the trees start their sweet renewal of growth and the light of the sun is shining longer on the water reflection, there will be a beautiful new landscape and I will be the blessed recipient of all this abundant beauty. I can choose today to see the possibility of what is coming.

2021 is here. The days might be dark now and we are all tired. Yet, choosing the now to see what can be is the gift. Let’s welcome in this year not with fatigue and weariness, but with a renewed passion for what living can be.

We can create this year by digging deep into those places of resistance and simply choose to be accepting. Give in to more wonder and awe in living fully in joy and peace. Let us celebrate! Blessings abound in 2021!

Love and light,

Laura Jane