New Year, New Beginning

The past year was different to different people. Some of us were very successful, won every battle we fought. Some others of us did not win every battle that we fought, might have even found difficult to get up from bed everyday, we just survived. But for both it is a new year. For those very successful, it is time to stand on the ground and not be over confident, complacent, arrogant and egoistic. And it is also time to give back. And for those of us not very successful we have another new year with 365 blank pages, 365 blank days. It is a fresh new beginning. Start your dream and go all the way. “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth—not going all the way, and not starting”, said Buddha.

Every New Year tells that we cannot eternally postpone important things in our lives. We must begin somewhere. How many lives do we have on this earth? One, two, three, four, or more? One of the foremost thinkers and philosophers of China, Confucius, four centuries before the common era, said, “We have two lives; the second one begins when we realise we have only one.” One can begin our second life from any point in one’s life. The gospels present umpteen examples of this. The thief on the right side of the cross of Jesus began his second life at the fag end of his life on this earth. In Luke 15: 11-32 we find the prodigal son, realising the warmth and love in his father’s house, returns back home and thus began his second life. In Luke 19: 1-10 we have Zacchaeus, realising the folly of the undue wealth he had amassed, decides to give much of it to the poor, thus began his second life.

This thought-provoking saying of Confucius has given rise to an even more thought-provoking poem by a Brazilian poet called, Mario de Andrade; and the poem’s name is My Soul is in a Hurry. The poet, as he passes through his midlife, looks back at his life and writes, my future is shorter than my past, I have fewer days in front of me, and more days behind me. I have no time for mediocrity, lethargy or excuses. As the poem proceeds he uses a beautiful metaphor of a boy. My life is like boy with a bowl of cherries. As soon as the child got the bowl of cherries he just began to gulp them in. All on a sudden he realises that he has only a few cherries that are left in the bowl. He stops; now he begins to eat the remaining cherries attentively and passionately. And the poem ends with the words, “We have two lives; the second one begins when we realise we have only one.” The first birth puts us on the earth and we begin to live unconsciously; when we begin to be conscious about ourselves, our brother, our sister, our neighbour we begin our second life, it gets us off what is merely earthly and mundane. We become spiritual.

Every time we show a little more courage to love, speak the truth, etc. we are beginning our second life. When we decide to help someone, or more importantly, be brave enough to ask for help we are beginning our second life.

Beginning to ask for help perhaps may be the biggest new beginning in this New Year. We are warned that the biggest causality of the coming year, and our times generally is mental health. The estimate is as startling as, one in every eight persons suffers from mental illness –serious or less serious. Next year will belong to those of us who have courage to ask for help.

The book, The Boy The Mole The Fox and the Horse, written and illustrated by Charlie Mackesy, now a TV show streaming on Apple TV is about a boy who is lost and is in search of his home. During his journey he meets three other friends, a mole, a fox, and wise horse. As they go on, the boy asks the horse, ‘what is the bravest thing that you have ever said?’ The horse answers, ‘Help, asking for help is not giving up; it is refusing to give up. It is we getting out of our own way and allowing things to happen. The future will belong to people who ask for help, and people who show openness to meet and network.

The book of Numbers 6: 22-27 blesses us saying, May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord give you peace.

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