Happy New Year 2021

Dear Friends,

It’s that time again when we make wishes for the new year, and after living through 2020, it has never felt more timely to re-post the New Year’s Blessing.

This year, I chose as a background to my words a photo I took years ago while on a trip with my husband to Cape Cod in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It is a picture taken of the sand dunes at Race Point Beach.

Provincetown is where the pilgrims aboard the Mayflower first set anchor in the New World on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in the year 1620.

A pilgrim is defined as a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Usually a place of particular importance related to their belief system. A pilgrimage can refer to either an outer or an inner journey.

In many ways, it seems as if we are all on another pilgrimage today. And still facing rough waters as we evolve our belief systems, our educational systems, our systems of government and commerce, medicine and law. As in the past, it is a difficult undertaking and one not without risk.

The name of the beach, Race Point, is derived from the noun, “Race,” meaning “a strong current flowing through a narrow channel in the sea.”

The fierce crosscurrent at Race Point caused many vessels to sink or re-route to avoid peril. Eventually a light house was installed in 1816 and the Cape Cod Canal was built in 1914.

In my photo, the vastness of the Atlantic is not yet visible. I focus on the path leading up to the beach. To be sure, though, the beautiful horizon is still there, revealing itself within a few more steps.

It is my hope we will all find our place in these changing times and cultivate the inner strength to navigate the days ahead with confidence and self-possession.

Wishing you all a very happy new year. Embrace the adventure.

With love and gratitude,

Janet