A Time for Reflection
Ciudad Colón, Costa Rica
As the crisp cold chill of December is upon us and we each approach the end of another year, life and its seasons once again offer us a time for pause and reflection. This past year has been no less tumultuous than the year before and so perhaps we need a moment to rest.
December is a time to wind down the work year and return to home and family, by whatever definition this holds for each of us. It also offers us the rare opportunity of time to slow down, a precious commodity that is rarely available during the hectic pace of modern life throughout the year.
As the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” The end of another year has always been a time to slow down and reflect, if one so chooses, a whispered opportunity to resist the current mainstream madness and commercialism of the holidays.
In this season of reflection, if we are willing to be open and and pay mindful attention, we can observe that life is a continual series of opportunities to allow for things to end and then begin again. Through many circumstances and events outside of us, most of which are beyond our control, we are continually placed in new situations and circumstances that require us to begin again.
There is a philosophical principle in Japanese culture known as “Ma” (間). It can be translated as “the pause or emptiness in between.” I discovered and embraced this during my year of living in Kyoto, Japan. It was something foreign to my Western sensibilities, where slowing down and not racing competitively toward some self-imagined finish line is seen as a weakness.
Silent empty space.
This principle permeates much of Japanese life, in its aesthetics, art and culture. It is why Japanese are not uncomfortable with long silences in conversations. It can be thought of as the space between the notes which make for the most beautiful music. It is in the stepping away from the outside world into a tea house in the middle of the day for the mindful practice of Tea ceremony. It is completely contrary to our American way of filling every bit of space in our schedules and our living surroundings and filling every moment of silence in a conversation. This way of “Ma" (間) or “empty space” can be found in a gentle stream of water or the simple practice of reflection.
These past two years have taught us this cycle of nature again and again and the month of December offers us an opportunity to reflect and give space to all that has happened. The year of the pandemic altered each of our lives in ways that will never again return to the perceived sense of sameness of what once was. Many people lost loved ones, others lost the illusion of the certainty of stable jobs and careers, still others lost homes and had to relocate. Even in the best of circumstances, most everyone had to accept the ending of an old way of life and reinvent a new way of being in the world.
If we take a brief window of time to simply reflect on the natural world around us, we will observe that the way of natural order is for things to begin and ultimately end, then begin again.
In Costa Rica, where I now live, if you are lucky, you can spot the elusive Morphe butterfly.
The natives of the rainforest considered the “blue butterfly” as the wish-granter. It is difficult to catch a photo as they are so full of life energy and never stop long enough to capture. Following this magical encounter on our hike I was not only hypnotized by this spectacular shade of blue, but I became equally fascinated with the life of the Morphe butterfly. I learned that the life of the Morphe butterfly is only 115 days. Just a brief moment in time. Perhaps one of the most beautiful creations I have ever encountered in nature and its life is but the blink of an eye, one season of beauty and then it ends. And yet, it is never still, never not fluttering around from flower to flower, fulling living out each one of its 115 days. It was a beautiful metaphor for each of our lives, the way things end and then begin again.
How we choose to look at the circumstances of beginning again is entirely up to us. How do we see the glass of life....as half full or half empty? The month of December offers us a window of pause and opportunity for this reflection, this space between the notes, before entering a new year.
When we look at nature we see the natural process of beginning again. In the Spring, flowers bloom and display their glorious colors. Summer and Fall bring change and both a cycle of growth then letting go. Winter brings loss of all that has blossomed, a death, and then the process begins all over again.
We don’t always get to choose with the seasons of life will bring our way. We can only choose to be at peace with the process and when the seasons require, begin again.
As you take the slow and quiet time to reflect during the month of December, what will you freely allow yourself to let go of, to end, and then how will you mindfully choose to begin again.
View from the Road
This week Costa Rica’s English speaking newspaper, The Tico Times, began running a column on my travel journals from my first three months in Costa Rica during the rainy season. The column will be an ongoing series through the eyes of my experiences during my first season here along the Guanacaste coast. I hope you enjoy following along.
Field Notes
Life is a series of opportunities to begin again. Through circumstances and events often outside of us and beyond our control, we are continually placed in new situations and circumstances that require us to begin again.
How we choose to look at the circumstances of beginning again is entirely up to us. How do we see the glass of life....as half full or half empty?
When we look at nature we see the natural process of beginning again. In the Spring, flowers bloom and display their glorious colors. Summer and Fall bring change and both a cycle of growth then letting go. Winter brings loss of all that has blossomed, a death, and then the process begins all over again.
We don’t always get to choose with the seasons of life will bring our way. We can only choose to be at peace with the process and when the seasons require, begin again.
Today, how will you choose to begin again.
-KL
From the Archives
Please enjoy May Your Journey Be Rough from the archives.
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Zen and Ink Journals represents hundreds of hours of writing over the past decade, sometimes from a train in remote China or a coffee shop in Kyoto, a hammock in Costa Rica or a simple cabin on a mountaintop in Boquete, Panama.
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