How do you see it?  The beginning of this new year?  Is it the start of another circle?  

    Have you been here before?  Are you, in a sense, retracing your steps - another January, enduring February, longing for May in lengthy March, then turning in June already anticipating a return to December (how many shopping days left?), and after the turn, soon lamenting the onset of shorter days that fast number the shortening year?  Is that how you see it? 

    Do you see the year as a helix, a progression of life?  Do you find yourself moving in a similar fashion as before, but definitely at new places and greater heights?  Perhaps aware of broader perspectives, not just looking back, but looking down and in, and wondering "how;" or gazing up and out, and imagining "when?"  Might the helix represent a spring  - a foundation of lived experience and acquired knowledge that could launch you to other places and persons, as yet unknown?  Or, perhaps, this image of helix is more dizzying, a spiral of sorts, representing a year with moments of loss, confusion, and ambiguity? 

    How do you see it?  Is this year like a line?   Is there a sense of incline?  Decline?  Is the beginning point a forgotten past, or like yesterday, not seeming like infinite moments away?  Is an end in sight?  Are you moving forward at a rapid pace, stalled, sliding back, or side-tracked on your life line?  Can you tell where you have been?  Is it clear where you are going? 

    Regardless, of how we see this new year, find a spiritual centerpoint, and with grace we will recognize what we see as pure gift.