Resolutions II

Sorry... can't help it. It's the last day of the year and I simply must reflect It certainly doesn't help that I am again stuck at my desk, one of only 50 people in the whole universe, I suspect.

Anyway, aside from making one or two pseudo-resolutions, another thing I've done instead of setting myself up by making lists of things I know I won't accomplish is to have a New Year's Eve Burning Ceremony. I picked this one up from a church I attended and it's kind of a nice way to commemorate the hanging of the new wall calendar.

You set up your fire -- fireplace, woodstove, candle in a nice ceramic/metal bowl, grill*, kitchen stove and a pan, match and a concrete step or bare patch of earth or whatever -- then you write on small pieces of paper, in just a few words, things that you want to be free from in the new year. Emotional things you've been stuck on, relationships (or aspects of them) you're ready to be done with, habits you're oh-so-more-than-ready to quit; anything you want out of your physical, emotional, or spiritual space.

Then you light the freakin' things on fire and cackle with glee as they burst into flames and are released to the universe! Bwah-ha-ha-haaa!

Actually it can be very therapeutic, even for those of us who aren't excessively spiritual.

The whole New Year's thing has typically been a tough time for me. First, it's in the middle of hibernation season, plus I somehow picked up the notion early on that it was supposed to be Meaningful-with-an-M. It rarely ever was, leaving me feeling a little let down and hollow somehow. But this silly simple little ceremony seems to help. It gives me something to do -- gives some direction to my thoughts -- rather than drink, which I really can't do much of any more anyway. At different times in my life it's been a relaxing celebration, a quiet reflection, and an intensely emotional process. And always it surprises me how Meaningful it seems.

So burn, baby, burn! Just don't burn down the house, 'k?

*Charcoal or gas, your choice, but outside please!