Goodbye 2020, and Hello to 2021. I’m weeks late in acknowledging a new year…but the past month has been a blur. With courage and honour, my father said goodbye to this world and left his body on Dec. 29 in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, as my sister and I lovingly sat together in a snowbank outside his hospital window, holding the sacred space for his soul to fly, even if separated by brick and glass. It was both magical and heart-breaking; and for his death to be one of the many Covid statistics is maddening. But we then put one foot in front of the other, first to get out of the snowbank, and then to move forward, comforting my stepmom, comforting each other, and jumping in to action to do what needed to be done during a year-end of lockdowns, holiday closures, and provincial restrictions.
Very quickly after saying that goodbye, it was hello to the business of dying. Hello to forms and phone calls, hello to decisions large and small. Hello to moments of sweet memories, and goodbye to old clothes and trinkets. One hello I am still waiting on is an actual voice from the Canada Revenue Agency…
Our whole lives are about beginnings and endings; an ongoing cycle of hellos and goodbyes. Wisdom traditions remind us to recognize this cycle and flow WITH it instead of against it; to process the goodbyes and to welcome the hellos over and over. Even in the midst of grief, uncertainty, challenge, and the inevitable roadblocks we may face, we can say goodbye to what keeps us stuck there, and say hello to the potential and possibilities that lie before us.
I love this part from Amanda Gorman’s recent speech. It is so relevant to not only the world today, but to personal challenges we all face, big and small:
“So while we once asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert, how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?”
So with the bravery, awareness, and motivation that my Dad instilled in me, I say Goodbye and then Hello to so many things…breathing and silently chanting So Hum and Hari Om.
My online yoga offerings will be on hold for a bit longer…keep meditating and practicing and grounding yourselves and I look forward to saying hello to you again soon.
Yoga In My Backyard 