It Begins With An Intention

another walk with elephant

What does a fresh start look like?

A fresh start can begin anywhere, but it begins with listening to your heart.

It begins with an intention - a spark that can be ignited with the smallest action.  A word or a breath is enough to set it into motion and begin something new. It generally requires some courage and conviction.

But you are overthinking it. Fresh starts are all around. Each day, every conversation offers new opportunity. A walk with a friend… or an elephant.

Much of your trying and trying, your thinking and worrying, can set you on a feedback loop to nowhere. These are the old habits that you need to see and forgive and shed.

Unburden yourself of the heaviness in your heart. Your heart wasn’t meant to hold so much. And the burden can make you hopeless and sedentary. It dampens your spark. Return to its rhythm and allow for synchronicity.

Walk. Get things moving. Just move. Show up. Go outside. Read a book. Smile. Each small action can lead you somewhere new and open up possibility. Do just about anything you haven’t done in a while. The impulse to do things is a gift - a new chance to ignite sparks that may be dormant in you right now. The fresh start is grasping onto one of the thousands of thoughts or opporunities that shows itself to you every single day.

You would like for things to be clean and articulate. Pristine. Perfect. But some of your journey will be slogging through mud and walking through tall grass. It is beauty you can’t always see. Your journey has grace that you are not yet aware of. There is perfection in the stumbling and slowness. There is meaning in the struggle and the suffering.

Maybe let go of the idea of a fresh start. You don’t need to start over and leave everything behind as though you have been wasting your time. The messiness and imperfection, the lethargy and heaviness, the grief, discomfort and loneliness… they are all a part of your growth. It is necessary for you to feel these things so that you can continue to evolve. Mud is fertile ground for cultivation.

(And stop to notice the incredible gifts that the mud has delivered.)

It is less about doing than you think. BEING is the key. You will have to learn this on your own and in your own way. You like doing. You will keep trying and trying until you learn that your strife is in your way. You will need to learn to lean and let yourself be loved. You will have to let people walk their own paths.

Start by breathing and giving yourself space. Be patient with yourself. You’ll want to avoid sometimes. You’ll fall short of your own expectations. It’s ok. Things will happen as they need to. Give yourself time. Return to the rhythm of your heart for guidance.

There’s more.