Just like the beginning of a New Year: a blank slate with a foggy path emerging in sight.

Starting a new year can evoke moments of excitement and grateful anticipation,  with clarity of your path.  Other times, we may view the new beginning as the path is depicted in the picture: a little foggy, unsure of our next steps, and fear of detours from the path. Perhaps, the view changes from week to week as life unfolds.

If we are starting our new year in a transition mode of life, chances are the path may be foggy with  virtual questions, leading to more questions, about finding our direction on the path. At some point in our lives, I imagine we have all been in transition,  for one reason or another. I would like to suggest that maybe there is a different way of looking at the path. Instead of foggy and unclear, might we think about it as a means to open the door to exploration of ‘what might be’.

Exploration usually takes us out of our comfort zone, but that is not all bad. A mentor many years ago at one of my career jobs told me that I would not be able to grow unless I stepped out of my comfort zone. I had to let go of what I ‘knew’ and walk toward the ‘unknown’, similar to walking down that foggy path. What does lie ahead?  We can stick with the tried and true for another year, or we can let go and reach out to try something we have always wanted for ourselves, but made other choices for what seemed to be good reasons at the time.

Meditating, reading, and talking to others can help in our exploration efforts. Knowledge is power and can move us to take action. We can think about it and dream about it, but until we ACT, there will not be a new path with new beginnings. And so what if there is a detour (wind in the path) on the journey; it is not to be feared. We can alter the plan and ACT according to the new chartered territory. One thing is for sure…….doing the same thing we did last year will definitely not get us to a new place with new beginnings.

I like this quote. “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” (Neale Donald Walsh).

What is the first baby step you can take in leaving your comfort zone?