A New Year Contemplation

It's that time of year again!.

It is the time of:
Slogans
Self-promises
Endless memes and, of course,
Unused gym memberships

It is the time of year when we learn that the habits of the last year (often carried over from prior years) do not suddenly step aside and congratulate you on your current enthusiasm. The problem, as I see it, is that we don't really understand or honor our needs. And we don't don't understand them because we don't really know ourselves.

The spiritual path is the path of self-knowledge and self-knowledge leads to an inner clarity about every aspect of our lives.

It has been my experience that whenever I, or someone I work with, gets a sense of clarity about themselves, they also get clear about their needs. With that clarity they embrace those needs as beautiful aspects of the self and in that embrace, those needs get fulfilled, sometimes in the most extraordinary way.

No one can tell you what you should or should not want. Although many try, no one really has the right or authority to impose on you some standard as to what is acceptable what isn't. That authority belongs solely with you. Having the ability to exercise that authority comes only with self-knowledge. Hence I value self-knowledge above all else.

Acquiring self-knowledge is not easy. It requires a shift in focus, a training of attention and a willingness to scrutinize even the most cherished assumptions we hold about ourselves. It requires a willingness to visit some dark places within us. It requires us to allow ourselves to feel things that, at first, seem difficult, even impossible, to stay present with. It requires us to recognize and then relinquish our resistance to change, in all of its subtle forms. And finally it requires us to do one of the hardest things there is to do, love ourselves unconditionally.

So, as we pass into this new year, let's set aside the traditional resolutions and give ourselves the one gift that truly does keep on giving, the self-knowledge that unfolds into the fulfillment of all needs and the enjoyment of all wants.

Join myself and host/producer Lisa Berry for the next episode of "The Flow" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time. at http://youtube.com/gpwalsh or in the private facebook group https://facebook.com/groups/gpwalsh