A New Year's Blessing

 

01.01.2021 A NEW YEAR’S BLESSING Well, 2020 is behind us. (Feel free to cheer, applaud, or shout Amen!)    And here we are with the first Weekend Reader of 2021. On behalf of everyone here at Lion’s Roar: thank you for letting us share these teachings and stories with you year-round. May these pieces from Karen Maezen Miller, Anne Cushman, and Natalie Goldberg set an auspicious tone for a safer, kinder new year. —Rod Meade Sperry, editorial director, Lion’s Roar Digital

Another New Year On the last night of the year, meditating with others is exactly what Natalie Goldberg finds she needs. I snapped my Yaktrax to the bottom of my snow boots and trudged under a full complement of stars in a black sky to Upaya Zen Center across the road. There seventy of us sat for two hours, then listened at midnight to 108 bells ring out the night, and had tea and cookies in the kitchen. This was just what I needed. At the time I meant the cookies, but really it was sitting still in the dark zendo, breathing with others, coming together in this sober way on the last night of the year.

How to Establish a Daily Practice of Almost Anything, in 6 Steps Whatever new leaf you’re thinking about turning over for 2021, Anne Cushman has some smart advice to help you succeed. Going to a retreat or program is a wonderful way to deepen our meditation practice. But how do we stay connected with these waking-up practices when we go home to the myriad projects, emails, responsibilities, and distractions waiting for us? This is a question that applies not just to meditation, yoga, and other spiritual practices, but to any creative art we want to commit to, such as painting, writing, or playing an instrument.

A New Year’s Blessing Zen teacher Karen Maezen Miller offers some words to help us all start the year off right. The New Year is a powerful time in our lives, and by that I mean in our practice. Through no effort of our own, we arrive at a point of culmination. A moment of reflection and renewal. In this span between what we think of as the old and the new, regret can stir. We may be more aware of our stubborn habits and shortcomings, our losses and the never-ending ache of unfulfillment. Another year gone, and all those things we were going to do! All those changes we were going to make! This recognition is a rare and momentous blessing, and one to be used. ”

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