In the weeks after my daughter was born, I wrote that her birth was like the layers of a mandala, she and I at the center, surrounded by the circles of people who comprise our Village. Circles that sustain us and love us and cheer for us as we unfurl ourselves in the grace of beginning. The words feel powerful to me still. Especially that last phrase about beginning, a blessing that can reach anyone starting something new – which happens to be all of us. The concept is gratefully borrowed from poet John Donohue “For a new beginning.” In my favorite bit, he writes:
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
-John O’Donohue
These words feel especially relevant now, at the beginning of this blog. They are a reminder to me and to all who read it that we are constantly beginning. The big, obvious beginnings of new children and new jobs and new houses, but also the constant chain of small beginnings that are no less meaningful. The new seeds for this year’s flower bed, the ambitious dessert recipe that may or may not turn out, new progress on healing old hurts. Dare we be gracious with ourselves in the outset, when all is unknown? We must be, or we would never begin!
If you have read the mission statement on this website, you already know that my mission is to foster a generation of daughters who love themselves. This is my new beginning. I will pursue this vision through us, their mothers – the women whose footsteps they follow. I invite you to join me on a journey that reconnects our busy, loving, anxious minds with our hearts, our joy. From us, may our daughters first learn what it means to be a woman in love with her joy, her power, and all that she is.
In the coming weeks and months, I will create posts that invite you to connect with yourself, with other women in your community, and with your creativity. And to find time for all of that, I will also offer roadmaps and resources to make time in your day where right now there seems none to be found!
But for now, I leave you with this sentiment. Wherever and however you find yourself today, may you recognize that it is a beginning. And with that recognition, may you give yourself permission to be okay with the uncertainty, the messiness, the fear, the excitement, and the hope that comes with change. Clarity will come. Your path will rise to meet you. May you unfurl yourself in the grace of beginning.
***The full text of John O’Donohue’s For a New Beginning can be read here.
***I invite you to engage with the ideas in this blog. Post a comment – what new thing is in your life today? Reply to someone else’s comment to cheer them on. May our energy lift each other up.