New Year's Eve

Tonight is New Year's Eve - a big night for many people. W and I are visiting family for the New year's weekend, as has been our tradition for a few years now.

This is the final day of 2024; it's time to see it out, and welcome in the New Year! 

Agenda today:

1. 

Kwanzaa principle

2. 

Christmas retreat brainstorm

3. Celebration plans

4. Resolutions

5. Simple steps for health and order

6. Make noise!

1. Kwanzaa principles:
The sixth day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to the principle of Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah), which is creativity. I can use my creative energies to build a beautiful and vibrant home and community.

2. Christmas retreat brainstorm:

I am again making the 12 Days of Christmas into a mini-retreat for myself - I'm doing some reading and writing every day, focusing on my priorities and what I'm called to do (or not do) next in my life. My plan is to contemplate, honor, and practice a different one of my life priorities each day, and set some goals and resolutions for 2025, based on guidance from God.

Today I'm honoring celebration. I'm fascinated with seasonal celebrations and customs from around the world, and with creating my own simple ways to mark the wonder of passing moments: Food, art and craft, ceremony and prayer, study and social action. I find that celebration connects me to the cycles of nature; brings me clarity on my inner cycles and seasons; reminds me to lighten up and be spontaneous; puts me in community with my friends; and strengthens my connection to the universal Spirit and to a life of virtue and integrity:

How can I remember to celebrate each day as a sacred gift, with attention on Love, Truth, and Creation? How do my celebrations become an expression of my life and my inner cycles and seasons? 

What is my personal sacred calendar? How do I become indigenous to the place I live, and connect deeply with the unique cycles of the seasons? 

How can I celebrate the seasons and transitions of life with simplicity, creativity, and integrity? How can I express my love of folk customs, crafts, ceremony, and foods and without practicing appropriation?  

How can I remember to lighten up and be spontaneous? How can I share my celebrations more deeply with family and friends?

3. Celebration plans:

I'm finishing up the work of setting goals and resolutions for the New Year, and my theme for today is celebration. Goals for celebration might be to connect to the cycles of the seasons, share my traditions, bond to my community, strengthen my spiritual understanding, or to explore and develop my playful and imaginative qualities.

My ideas for celebration goals so far:

1. Hone my celebrations to a personal sacral calendar, and connect it to the phenology of my neighborhood. Define and develop personal symbolism, crafts, ceremonies, and traditions that honor my valley, my heritage and my Quaker beliefs.
2. Practice daily, weekly, and monthly cycles of reverence for the Earth, that remind me to celebrate each day as a sacred gift, with attention on Love, Truth, and Creation.
3. Root myself in this land and community, so that my service has stability and power.
4. Plan and organize shared celebrations with my family and friends that have meaning on many levels, and that leave room for spontaneity.

4. Resolutions:

Ah, January resolutions! As usual, I'm ready at the New Year to upgrade my health habits, take control of my moods, and have more discipline in general. I know I'd better start with small steps that I can easily maintain, and stick to just a few specific, well-defined intentions.

My resolutions for 2025 are:

1. Rebuild simple health habits, one at a time: I intend to set, practice, and track one small healthy habit (drink more water, walk, eat more veggies, etc.) each week, in order to improve my resilience, so that I can keep up with my grandchildren for years to come.
2. Practice mindful equanimity: I intend to study equanimity and mindfulness skills, and practice them diligently, because learning how to tolerate my uncomfortable feelings will allow me to transcend the anxiety, impatience, and indignation that sabotages my witness to the world.
3. Create order: I intend to organize my home, and build habits to sustain simplicity and orderliness, because creating a peaceful and efficient sanctuary, and using only my share of the earth’s resources, is the honorable and sustainable thing to do, and is one way that I show reverence for the Earth and for God.

5. Simple steps for health and order:

This year I've decided to review and work at the Simple Steps model for improving my self-care and home-care practices. I will choose one new habit in each area, each week, to build and monitor. I will set an intention that uses the action + deepest reason model. This week:

I intend to drink 60 oz. of water most days, and track it using a phone app, because water helps regulate body temperature, lubricates joints, transports nutrients, supports digestion, removes waste products, promotes better brain function, memory, and mood, maintains healthy blood circulation, and prevents swelling of the feet, and these will aid my resilience.

 

I intend to "speed eliminate" as many items from my kitchen as possible - old food, towels, dishes, cleaners, etc., and things that don't belong in the kitchen - working systematically and daily through every space in the room, because this is the first step in creating order. 

 

6. Make noise: 

Noise-making is considered an effective way to drive off the spirits of the old year and awaken the sleeping new year. We will gather horns, bells, pots, pans, and whistles, throw open the door at midnight, count down the final seconds of the old year, then let loose with whoops and cheers, bangs and toots, to welcome in the New Year!