New Year's Eve Contemplations

New Year's Eve in the past few years for me has become a time of quiet reflection. With a pint of Hagen Daz, a notebook and pen, a scented candle, and the daybook Simple Abundance I celebrate quietly and contentedly. I begin by reading the first couple pages of Simple Abundance.

It begins with a quote by Rainer Maria Rilke,
"And now let us welcome the New Year
Full of things that have never been."
And under the entry of January 1st the author, Sarah Ban Breathnach writes, "...learn to embrace the gentle yearnings of your heart...instead of resolutions write down your most private aspirations. Those longings you have kept tucked away until the times seems right. Trust that now is the time...discover day by day how to live them."

It's a good alternative to the usual resolutions that so often are not kept. To write of your dreams...with no feeling the need to kick yourself later for not "sticking to" those things you "should" be doing.

So as the hours got closer to midnight I wrote my thoughts down. What do I really long for? Could I admit it, if even only to myself?

One thing I discovered that I want for myself this year is to have a year of frivolity. Frivolity sounds so selfish. It's just not serious enough, and is too trivial. But I long for more of that frivolous, lighthearted, absolutely not essential, but just downright not taking life and myself so seriously. To be more playful and engage in delightful whimsy. Like having a spring or summer picnic amongst the wild flowers, while wearing a white cotton dress and carrying a white lace parasol, and dancing and twirling around with the butterflies flying around. To let myself do so without worrying about what others think of my being so silly. To open my heart to the sunlight not just without, but also within. That, to me, sounds truly freeing. That sounds like a fresh new year full of things that have never been to me.