At this time of the year, even the world tells you to cast off the old and greet the new. Even the world tells you to get a fresh start. If you must make a resolution, resolve to let go of the past. This one resolution takes care of just about everything. So much of the past hangs over you. The past is even concretized in bills and debts. The past hammers at you.

The past has been written in an old notebook. Now take out a new one. You can hardly wait for a new one.

Don't new shoes make you happy? Think of what a New Year can do for you.

Where does the New Year exist? It is a concept. Therefore, it exists within you. You make an outer demarcation on what you call a calendar, and you call a certain page the beginning of the New Year. Of course, it begins at every moment. Tear off the used pages of the calendar frequently.

Earmark your year for your presence in it. Be there.

If you kept no records of days or years or hours or minutes, what would life be like? Would you unchain yourself? Would you sink into the heart of life more than you run on the surface of it? Would life become more of a hammock and less of a drill hammer?

And all because you were geared toward newness.

The Sun rises in the morning as if it had never risen before, as if it hadn't done it an uncountable number of times before. And so, even what stays the same can be new. The Sun doesn't have to shake off the old, because the sun is neutral to it. The Sun doesn't absorb the old in the first place. The Sun indulgently runs its course through life and gathers no moss. The Sun asks for nothing, and yet is universally loved. The Sun rolls along and emanates its light without holding on, and so it blesses the world. And are you not a Sun on earth who radiates light? Now consider the sun in the sky a model of effortlessness. Oh, what you can be on earth.

The Moon reflects the Sun and is not mindful of it. The Moon does not feel it is a lesser light. The Moon does not compare. The Moon is never wistful. The Moon is content to be the cooling light it is.

Stars are always out but not always seen. They do not weep for this. They flash their light regardless of who notices or blesses them. Stars are Stars, and Stars do what Stars do. They benefit all of creation and ask nothing in return. A Star would be unhappy to withhold its light.

And so now, be like the Stars and shine universally.

The Sun, Moon, and Stars serve day and night without question. They never ask why they are up in the sky, or why they can't be somewhere else, or doing something else. They know their purpose, and they do it. Their purpose is to shine light. They do not ask for more. They do not ask to be draped with someone else's fortune. They make their way as they are. They know who they are and what they are to do. Even the Sun reflects My light, and asks for no greater. What could be greater? The Sun, Moon, and Stars keep their eye on Me and so they are guided through the universe.

Egoless are these energies.

You have more freedom than all the beautiful lights in the sky. You can go where you like. You do not have to follow an orbit. Every day is your choice.

What prevents you from revealing the same sweetness and contentment as the Sun and Moon and Stars? What?