10 Valuable Tips for Your Beginning

What appeared as two inverted "v" silhouettes emerging in the foreground, turned out to be a furry-eared donkey.As my friend Mar and I enjoyed an early evening hike, by chance I looked up just in time to catch him surface from behind the hill. There was Mr. Donkey set against the backdrop of the limestone mountains, lit up by the setting sun.This was a precious moment I would have missed, had I not looked up in time. I delight in the unexpected and life is full of them ... if we are open, awake and present.

How much of life passes us by when we forget to look up, and glance around instead of just focusing on what's ahead?

These last several years, I have engaged in the joyful practice of relishing the moment. Instead of judging what is, wanting it to be different/people to be different, I have been graced with arriving at a place in my life where (when I am at my Wendy best), I accept and appreciate 'what is.''What is' for me today?  An ending that is simultaneously opening to a new beginning. Once again, I prepare to say good-bye and step into the unknown. On my last few walks through the village, I  smile at  a fisherman untangling his nets, knowing he will soon be a relic of the past, pause to caress the donkey's face, smile inwardly as I glance around at the people I have come to know and love because of all of who they are ...There are so many sights and sounds and I just want to inhale them all; to burn them into my mind's eye so I can recall this place I have calledhome, at will. And yet, time is like grains of sand slipping through my fingers the tighter I try to hold on. These endings have become excruciatingly and exquisitely painful.Since an early age, I've had a deeply felt sense for the temporal nature of life. The choices I have made along my journey have brought me face to face with a series of continual endings and beginnings, good-byes and hellos and the vast spaces in-between.Some call me a nomad, but I didn't set out to live that way. For those of you who have uprooted, you may have learned what I didn't know until my roots were planted in new soil. Once you leave a place you cannot go back, at least not in the same way. You are different, people are different, the place has changed with time. That's the nature of life--ever-changing.What have I learned about beginnings and endings -- about change? Here are 10 Valuable tips to help you ease your way into new beginnings. 

1. Beginnings come first. Have a vision for your life. Know what's important to you; why you are making a change and what you'd like to be different as a result of your change in circumstance. Be clear. The end result is unlikely to match your vision exactly, but it may even be better. When you create with conscious intent, you have a much greater likelihood of materializing your vision
2. Beginnings  always require a leap of faith--nothing is certain
3. Ask for help--it will come
4. You don't have to "make bad or wrong" your current circumstances in order to look forward to the next. Appreciate fully what you have; what was and what gifts this place, this person, this job provided
5. Don't  rush through your ending  to relieve the pain of letting go. Closing things down, readying for the change, saying good-bye is important. This process aids in the acceptance of change
6. What loose ends do you need to tie up? Who or what do you need to make peace with? Do it. Don't leave a trail of litter behind you because it will keep you from fully moving forward
7. Throw 100% of your commitment (energy, focus, intent ... ) behind the change. If you're ambivalent, you'll have a hard time materializing your vision
8. New beginnings take time. You are a learner once again. Give yourself permission to feel awkward, to make mistakes, to feel incompetent in your new circumstances
9. It will take awhile to find your new rhythm. But you will
10. How do you want to be in this new beginning? Go forward with conscious intent. How do you want to show up -- for yourself, others, in your new situation?  You can choose to start anew; to let go of habits that don't serve you and create new ones that do.

How have I been changed by my current circumstances?

In this place, I have learned to look up, pause, linger, deeply listen, lighten my load, experience the vastness of my heart and to accept ...

... and that roosters crow all day and night, that people are more lovable because of their imperfections, that slowing down opens the senses, that there are benefits to nosy neighbors, that living a life at scale is possible and desirable, and so much more. I hope to carry these treasures with me like a turtle carries it's home.This poem helped me (and no doubt, countless others) be courageous in the letting go into new beginnings. May it gift you with the same.

For a New Beginning

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
 Where your thoughts never

think to wander,
 This beginning has been quietly forming,
 Waiting

until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
 Feeling the emptiness

growing inside you,
 Noticing how you willed yourself on,


Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
, And the gray

promises that sameness whispered,
 Heard the waves of turmoil rise

and relent,
 Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
 And out you stepped

onto new ground,
 Your eyes young again with energy and dream,


A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
 You can trust the promise of

this opening;
 Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
 That is at

one with your life's desire.

 Awaken your spirit to adventure;
 Hold nothing back, learn to find ease

in risk;
 Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
 For your soul senses

the world that awaits you.

~ John O'Donohue ~

I have neglected my blog of late because of my impending move and I imagine that settling into my new home will also be getting most of my attention. It will take me a little while to find my new rhythm, so please hang in there with me. I love to write and hope to have some good stuff to share coming soon!In the meantime, what beginnings are taking form in you?Add to my list: what have you learned about endings and beginnings?