#sparkchamber 010124 — Everyday Happy

Here we are at the end of another amazing year of creativity and insight shared with #sparkchamber, another wonderful year of ideas in action, visions made real. We are so grateful to receive the stories! So inspired by the push-and-pull of life and work and art and movement and shape and form and function. Such an incredible community and such an honor to hold space for it.

It is funny though, about the year. There’s something about the full circle. The earth traveling around the sun makes a year, and we all say, “Happy New Year!” There are resolutions and promises, goals and ambitions. And then, most of the time, nothing really happens. So much pressure on the stroke of midnight on one particular day! So much weight on big things announced in that moment for that year ahead.

But there’s no need to wait for New Year’s Eve to set a new course. We come full circle every day. “Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and others.”

In the spirit of that Thich Nhat Hanh quote, let’s all say, “Happy New Day!” and make resolutions as needed. Tonight, tomorrow, next week … whenever is as good a time as any to resolve to move toward whatever change you want to see. It doesn’t have to be a whole big deal — switch careers or re-paint the living room or write that novel — something that seems so impossible to finish that it’s almost not even worth getting started. But rather bite off just a day’s worth, an hour’s worth. “Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it,” wrote the philosopher René Descartes.

So maybe today you resolve to take a look at your resume. That’s all. Just find it, look at it. Tomorrow or the next day, maybe you resolve to scroll through some dream job openings at an online site. No pressure, no action required. Or maybe today you resolve to get some paint swatches at the hardware store. In a couple of days, you can hold them up to the living room wall. Or maybe get a new throw pillow.

The idea is baby steps. Not being overwhelmed by the 365-day monster project, but the little-by-little doable chunks. And the joy that comes from getting each bit done. Because there’s no reason to wait to push reset. To daydream. To do the thing, or to undo the thing. There’s no magic about the first day of a new year. It’s just another day. Like every other day. The sun sets and then the sun rises — even on a foggy night and a rainy morning — the world turns and the next day comes. It’s always a new moment, and as T. S. Eliot wrote, “Every moment is a fresh beginning.” It’s always now, and now is good. So be here and look forward. Follow your light and take your time.

Today is day one of a new year, and we wish each and every a happy next trip around the sun. But really, more importantly, tomorrow starts a new day. And for that, we wish you all a happy, happy new day. And a happy new day after that. And the one after that, too.

1.] Where do ideas come from?

Any new beginning is forged from the shards of the past, not from the abandonment of the past.

― Craig D. Lounsbrough, author, counselor

Reach forward to what lies ahead.

― Lailah Gifty Akita, author Think Great, Be Great!

2.] What is the itch you are scratching?

The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.

— J.P. Morgan, financier, railroad magnate

Shine in any season of your life.

— Angelica Hopes, poet, lyricist, author Rhythm of a Heart, Music of a Soul 

3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth … not going all the way, and not starting.

— Buddha, teacher, philosopher, spiritual leader

Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.

— Robin Sharma, lawyer, author, speaker

4.] How do you know when you are done?

If I can’t stay where I am, and I can’t, then I will put all that I can into the going.

― Jeanette Winterson, author Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished; that will be the beginning.

— Louis L’Amour, novelist

Rather than turning the page, it’s much easier to just throw the book away.

— Anthony Liccione, poet