What does it mean to wish someone a “Happy New Year?”

Welcome to 2024! First, let me wish each and every one of us a very happy new year! I have seen some beautiful reflections on the new year, and I’d like to start with one that a client shared with me. It’s written by Donna Ashworth, whom many of you may be familiar with.

“When I say ‘happy new year’, Im not for a moment expecting this to occur, for that is not possible, a year must be all things.

Happiness must come an go like the tides and the winds, just as sadness and all the emotions in between.

When I say ‘happy new year’ I’m really wishing you a baseline of peace, of gratitude.

Because, if you can sit with these things, for the most part, happiness will thrive when it does arrive, and sadness will know its place in the mix.

If you can nourish these things daily, you will also grow hope, for it flourishes in such soil.

And, hope is the key to this enigmatic state of happiness we seek.

When I say ‘happy new year’ I’m really wishing you more happy days than sad days, more joy than misery, more laughter than tears…and the wisdom to accept that they all belong.

Happy new year my friends, happy new year.”

To me, that poem sums it up beautifully! if we enter into a new year expecting, wishing for, even wanting a year of all happiness…we are going to be disappointed. This does not mean we should enter into a new year with a “doomsday” attitude either! It means we should accept and trust that everything that happens is part of our journey, and it is up to us to integrate it all into our lives. We can resist the negative if we choose…and that will cause suffering, as that, to me, is the very definition of suffering… “resisting what is.” Of course, “accepting what is” does not mean being defeated either. It means meeting ourselves where we are, in this and in every moment, and being with whatever life presents us with. Some of that will be filled with excitement and joy, some of it adventure, some of it challenge, and some of it sadness and pain. It is not easy to welcome each aspect of our journey with open arms and an open heart, but it is worth doing so if we want to live fully, learn, grow, evolve, and be who we are designed to be.

So, I wish you a very happy new year…no matter what it brings. And, with that I also note that we are not alone…we are in this life journey together. If you need help and support, don’t be afraid to reach out for help. If I can’t help, I will do my best to connect you with someone who can. You are loved, you are meant to be here, you are way more than your life circumstances, you are YOU! And I wish YOU a very happy new year.