• Starting Again Takes Courage.

New Seascape – Roy Lichtenstein.1966. Wikioo.

“No matter how hard the past is, you can always begin again.”

Buddha

“It is not the failure that holds us back but the reluctance to begin over again that causes us to stagnate.”

Clarissa Pinkola Estés

2023: What does New Year mean for us? New Year…..New Beginnings…… Perhaps it puts us in mind of resetting our ways of being and ways of thinking and makes us think about aspects of ourselves and our lives that might need to change.

Buddha assures us that, even if we have had a hard time, if things have failed for us, we can always start again. Estés points out, however, that this is not always easy, that we can become stuck and in limbo in relation to old patterns of behaviour and it is this ‘reluctance to begin again that causes us to stagnate.’

 

In Limbo. Mark Rothko. Wikioo.

Making a new beginning takes courage and the willingness to look at ourselves and at our thoughts and behaviour. Can we identify what it is that is holding us back? Could it be that there are fears of failure, of being inadequate, or being judged, so that we procrastinate and waste precious time?

Fearing failure often means that we do not embark on anything new, or that we avoid any kind of risk-taking.

Our concerns about failing are most often to do with a fear of shame and humiliation, loss of face, loss of confidence, feeling stupid, being a disappointment and a letdown to others and feeling worthless, a loser, useless, and so on… and on…

“Every great cause is born from repeated failures and from imperfect achievements.”

Maria Montessori.

Holding onto an awareness that failure can be a powerful teacher, tough though it may be, is hard to do. It takes courage. As the above quotation tells us, the greatest of achievements have been realised only after many encounters with failure.

Courage – Francis Picabia. 1947. Wikioo.

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day that says, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’”

Mary Anne Radmacher

Perhaps after we have experienced what feels like a failure, or several, we may need a friend to help us regain a sense of self-worth and to remind us of the courage and resilience we have shown in the face of past challenges.

• Beginnings: Why Are They So Important?

Beginning – Max Beckmann. Wikioo.

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”

Plato.

“Every moment is a fresh beginning.”

T.S. Eliot

The importance of beginnings cannot be overestimated. Getting started is a crucial stage in our quest for any accomplishments we are aiming for. Why is this?

Beginnings are about laying foundations, and establishing a firm base from which to be creative and productive. Without good beginnings, without a solid footing, the structure upon which our ideas are founded may crumble and dissolve away.

This applies to so many endeavours; we need, for example, a strong introduction and beginning to a book, a good foundation for a painting, a sound and careful plan to support the development and growth of our projects, whatever they may be.

Sometimes, making a start NOW is difficult; perhaps we are waiting for the ‘right’ time, but there are no perfect conditions or times in which to begin things.

The Perfect Moment – Alex Katz. Wikioo.

“Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.”

Alan Cohen

Even if our beginning attempts feel small, they can lead to much bigger steps and greater achievements, with patience, perseverance and time.

Tibet. Sacred stones. Mongolia. – Nicholas Roerich. Wikioo.

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

 Confucius

• Endings and Beginnings.

Beginning Of The End – Margit Anna. 1989-90. Wikioo.

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

Seneca

Paul Nash – We are Making a New World. 1918. Wikimedia Commons.

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished; that will be the beginning.”

Louis L’Amour

Before we can start something new we have to make endings, to finish things. We cannot have a new year without the old one passing forever.

The Old And The New Year – José Villegas Cordero. Wikioo.

We have no choice but to accept change, as time marches on, even if we wish to keep things as they are. We must ultimately embrace such changes, accepting the fact that, as each day passes, there will be new experiences, both good and bad. We will all be a year older, we will lose people dear to us, new people will come and go……

End of the Season – William Merritt Chase.Wikioo.

“Perhaps that is where our choice lies—in determining how we will meet the inevitable end of things, and how we will greet each new beginning.”

Elana K. Arnold

As the quotation says, we do actually have a choice; this single, important, option is to decide how we are going to manage the certainty of loss, grief and endings, and how we will cope with new beginnings.

It is important to be flexible in this; having expectations of a quick reaction to loss and endings, a total feeling of closure, is unrealistic. Grief takes time to work through and it may be a long while before we can become even a little resolved about our losses and allow ourselves to treasure precious memories….

“How shall I remember thee? As a drop of eternal summer, or a blossom of tender spring? As a spark of autumn’s stirring fire, or perhaps as the frost of winter’s longest night? No, it shall not be as one of these, for these shall all come to pass, and you and I, though parted by sea and earth, will never fade.”

Rebecca Ross

It is difficult to make a new beginning if we have not let ourselves grieve our losses.

The Snake Sheds Its Skin – Dez Quarréll.1996. Wikioo.

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.”

Joseph Campbell

“Have a Plan B, and maybe even a Plan C. Because unexpected changes are most difficult to handle when we don’t have a backup.”

Germany Kent

We always need to be aware that we may need a Plan B, something to fall back on if our original plans do not come to fruition.

• Future Plans

Some planning for the future and thinking ahead is healthy and hopeful. This can help us to be prepared and avoid errors.

It is equally important that our plans for the life that is to come are not too firmly set in our minds, as we can never know what the future holds for us. When we are at the stage of making a new beginning, we also face uncertainty. We do not know what will happen to our plans, or what is round the corner. This can be difficult, as well as exciting, and stimulating to our creativity.

All creative beginnings involve uncertainty. There are endless possibilities and a plethora of ways in which our work may evolve.

“Life is what happens to you while you’re planning on doing something else.”

 John Lennon

• ‘Just do it;’Applying Ourselves Today. 

We can plan for the future by beginning things today that will stand us in good stead for tomorrow. Of course, there is no cast-iron guarantee that this approach will make all go well for the future, but there is a better chance of success in our endeavours if we have the resilience and staying power to build on each day’s achievements.

Lesser Ury. Woman at a Writing-Desk (1898) Wikimedia Commons.

“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

© Linda Berman.