Now there’s a word that I suspect most of my friends here have never heard … it’s an ancient Irish festival that marks the beginning of Spring and the end of Winter.
Victoria reminded me that yesterday was Imbolg and asked me what I was shedding for this new beginning. Traditionally it is a time to shed things from the past (purification) and embark on new beginnings.
So, I carried her reminder during the day and asked myself what I might shed.
First thing this morning, armed with my plans, I went down to Lake Parker to watch the sunrise, which for me is always a sign of new beginnings.
It was a freezing start to the day here in FL … I actually had to wear a long sleeve shirt! OK, the sound you are now hearing in the distance is the sound of me laughing at all you folk that choose to live in the great white north.
Anyway, I digress …
I could tell from the chill in the air and the clear night sky overhead, that this morning would likely deliver a pure sunrise, unadulterated by clouds. And I was right. Below are a collection of the progression of twilight and I hope you enjoy them!
Incidentally, I also for the first time in my life, came across a slight murmuring of birds out over the lake and it was wonderful to witness. I didn’t bring a zoom lens with me but nonetheless I captured it in video for a moment and uploaded it on YouTube, if you are interested. Probably best viewed on something larger than a phone, btw.
The purification thoughts that I brought with me to this morning’s sunrise centered on unhappy thoughts of the loss of my parents that has plagued me for the past year in particular. I have struggled with reconciling the manner of their loss and it has been a weight in my heart that has muted my own enjoyment of life.
So this morning I shared the sunrise with them both and resolved to discard the sad thoughts and replace them with happy memories of my life with them both. And there were so many over the years that it will not be difficult to lose myself in them and allow my heart to heal.
The murmuring seemed cathartic in its sudden arrival and firmed up my resolve in moving forward.
So, as I drove away from the lake, I began to wonder why we choose to carry negative energies forward from our past at all. They inevitably harm our present and sometimes can even ruin our futures.
Negative emotions such as sadness, regret, and shame, inevitably happen to us all at some stage. But it is important to put them in a box after a short indulgence and then keep a lid on it for the remainder of our lives.
Too many of us reopen that lid and allow the past to shape our future.
That, my friends, is almost never a good idea!
There is no shame in experiencing negative shit. It happens. But we have to be able to not just deal with it, but to recover from it.
Once we allow it to perch on our shoulders it can weigh down our dreams and crush our our memories.
And with life being essentially our own personal collection of memories, we then allow it to crush our very life.
Finding happiness in memories is a key ingredient to living a joyous life. The pursuit of happiness is the right of every living soul on the planet. And when we deny ourselves this right because of something from our past, then we reduce our own life to that of a memory. A bad one.
So, with Imbolg upon us, it is a wonderful time to stand at this crossroads and choose a path that is unencumbered by negatives from our past.
I have a true belief that each one of us can choose our future. We may not be able to control it, but we can choose our direction and to make the best choice it is a good idea to disregard the past and begin the rest of our journey afresh and full of hope.
Who knows, the best days of our lives might actually be ahead of us!
