“This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!”
– William Arthur Ward

 

“Happy New Year!

Today we each have an opportunity to REALLY begin "ANEW"!!

So, to support us each in this, today I want to share with you an inspirational story about stepping outside and seeing everything with new eyes.

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut of thought, and also of expectation in your life. This is really evident if you’ve lived in the same neighborhood for a long time. You see the same faces. The same shops. It becomes easy to simply stop seeing – to walk by the same doors without really being there, in the moment.

Lydia had lived in the same suburban neighborhood in California for over 30 years. She lived in such a way that she never really saw it anymore; it was that familiar. The same could have been said to be true of her marriage of thirty years. There was nothing fresh in it, but it was familiar, and so she had the comfort of that without ever really feeling alive.

Lydia was living one year ninety nine times. She wasn’t living each year anew. And she was growing older.
Well one New Year’s Eve, Lydia read a story to her granddaughter about a Native American elder who tells the children of his tribe that whatever animal they see on the first day of the new season would be their totem, their guide for that year.

Lydia’s little granddaughter liked this idea so much and she said, “Grandma, tomorrow is the first day of the New Year! Can we go outside and see an animal for me?”

And Lydia, who loved her little grand-daughter said, “Yes, we will.” But in her heart, she was a little worried. She lived in a very settled area with lots of lawns and very few, if any, wild animals.

She worried that her little granddaughter was going to see a stinkbug or a worm on the pavement.

So that night, Lydia worried. But the next day, she put on a happy face and her granddaughter met her at the door. And they put on their coats, and walked outside.
Lydia lived in a cul-de-sac, so they started walking down to the end of the street. There were no animals. “At least we haven’t seen a worm, or a stink bug,” thought Lydia.

Soon Lydia’s granddaughter pointed at a row of roses that one of the neighbors had been tending. And all the roses were in full bloom. Had they always been there? Lydia couldn’t remember.
They stopped and Lydia lifted her granddaughter up so the child could smell them. And it was truly a wonderful moment. Lydia thought about planting a pretty rose garden in her yard. That would be lovely. They could plant it together.
And when they were ready to walk on, the little girl pointed at a break in the fences. There was a small path between the houses! And all these years of living in this neighborhood, Lydia had never seen that path. Yet her granddaughter saw it right away. And so they walked between the houses, and came out in a beautiful oak grove.
The trees were majestic in the early morning light. And between them, just a way off in the sun, stood a golden-eyed stag. The stag had many points on his antlers. He had probably lived in this oak grove all his life. And he bent his head, flicked his ears and nodded to the grandmother and her granddaughter, and then he trotted into the bushes and disappeared.
And the little girl was elated, “A magic deer! We saw a magic deer!”
And Lydia stood in astonishment at the beauty and grace before her. All these years this path to the trees was there. All these years, the magical stag had been living here. How had she never seen them before?
Well, they walked a little further and came out to a little hillock with a vista that overlooked the entire neighbourhood, and there was a bench to rest on. It was so beautiful.
And when they got home, Lydia had something to share. The next opportunity she got, she invited her husband on a walk to the bench, where they sat and admired the beauty before them, and held hands.
And it became their new morning routine, instead of each doing separate things, they took a walk together through the beautiful trees to this bench. And there was not just one, but many deer, who came by the dozen each morning, the does, the fawns, and occasionally, the magnificent buck.
Lydia planted her rose garden that spring with her little granddaughter, and it was a whole new joy in Lydia’s life. The child had brought her these gifts that had been under her nose all along, just by seeing with new eyes.
So, here we are at the beginning of a brand new year, a never before lived year for you and your dreams.

This year, see with new eyes : – )”

~Mary Morrissey

 

“One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this — To rise above the little things.” – John Burroughs

 

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

The bad news is time flies.

The good news is you’re the pilot.”
– Michael Altshuler

 

 

P.S: The New Year is already a day old. Yes, indeed, time does fly…Isn’t it heartening to know that you’re the pilot ???

What if, we could choose to go through life seeing /observing and really appreciating the incredible beauty that is all around us, that we fail to notice most of the time?????

Trust yesterday was an awesome day for you …..and that today will be even more amazing.

Thank you for visiting the TREASURE TROVE today.

Namaste,

Bhagya