This month you’ll find several articles and ads mentioning the New Year and New Year’s resolutions. They are expected and welcome as we all strive to form ourselves into better people, develop healthier bodies, and fulfill our dreams and desires. It’s natural to set expectations and measure and evaluate success in terms of years. It’s also wonderful to leave old habits and thoughts behind in the past year and draw our ideal life on the blank canvas of a new one. 

Why do we wait for January 1, though, when every day offers the same chance to start fresh? Those who practice mindfulness would argue that every moment offers the opportunity to leave the past behind. By truly experiencing and appreciating the present moment, we actively create the future we desire.  So, I wish you much success in achieving your yearly goals – just remember that the change you hope for beginsnow.

One achievement I’m proud to measure in years is the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first local edition of Natural Awakeningsmagazine by Sharon Bruckman, now CEO of Natural Awakenings Publishing Corporation. Her resume at the time did not suggest that she would be a successful magazine publisher or that she would one day start a franchise that would support another 90 sister magazines.  I don’t think she could have imagined setting a goal to reach almost four million readers through more than 1.5 million copies per month.

But Sharonhad been asking the Divine to use her and her gifts and talents for some greater good and was wise enough to listen to urgings from Spirit that didn’t make sense at the time.  She says, ”Ultimately surrendering to the steering and relying on this same inner compass to guide me every step of the way has miraculously kept Natural Awakenings on the forefront of the growing global awakening to a more conscious, natural and sustainable way to live.”

My thanks to Sharon for listening to the urgings and acting upon them.The result is a great publication, careers for 90 publishers, opportunities for countless advertisers, and a community of, as Sharon says, ”nearly four million kindred spirits . . . relishing an awakened life and creating the kind of world we know is possible.”