Namaste

Namaste in the US is: The divine in me bows to the divine in you. I do not capitalize divine in this case. In no way is divine representative of any being or celestial spirit. In recognizing the divine in those around me, I recognize the imperfections in everyone, including myself:  I recognize your pimples, wrinkles, farts, burps, and all the little things that make you a part of what makes each of us imperfect. The absolute perfect person inside that imperfect person mirrors the perfect person hidden inside my pimples, wrinkles, farts, burps, grumpiness, fatigued, and old, frumpy self. Just wanted to clarify this before my salutation to you.

Namaste ya’ll,

I’m feeling particularly philosophical these days. I think it is the holiday rush (visit everyone, find the right presents, wear the right clothes, etc), a lingering sinus infection which makes it impossible for me to read or write more than a sentence or two at a time, and the end-of-the-year-get-things-done dash to 31 December. With the fog of the sinus infection clearing, I sit back and wonder why we are in such a rush to get things done before a date on the calendar tells us we’re late in getting things done.

My friend, Bill, wrote a comical and informative essay on his blog about the calendar and pondered changing holidays to fit our modern lifestyles. (Read Bill’s essay here.) It was changing New Year’s day that got stuck in my mind. Our calendar dictates when we say Happy New Year, but why do we only celebrate it only once a year? If we want to make a change in our lives why do we wait for the calendar to do it? Why not make any day a New Year’s Day, if that’s what’s required to make a change?

I have seen many changes in my life over the past five years, and none of them occurred on the calendar New Year’s Day. Well, there was one. I officially became a full-time writer on 1 January 2013. Since then, many things have changed, and I expect more things will change. Change is, after all, the essence of living. If we’re not changing, we’re dying. Then again, dying is a change, however, once that change is complete, there are no more changes. Only the living change and grow.

That’s why I like to think any day can be a New Year’s Day. Any day can influence me or you to do something different, be something different, become a beginning or an ending.

And that leads me back to Namaste. That which is divine in each of us cannot be perfection since to reach perfection is an ending. And yet, it is that search for the divine that drives us each to change, grow, and be beyond what we are at this moment. 

And that is my hope for you today, in this season of rush, rush, rush. In this season pressure to be perfect.

Namaste