Starting New

No matter what degrees it is outside, spring is a marker in time. Every season has its message. We think of spring as the time to clean out closets, get rid of the old, to prepare for the new.
Spring cleaning is also for the mind, stories that just do not serve me are erased, and stories which touched me deeply are remembered. One of my favorite memories is when I was in Bali. Something woke me up around 5 o’clock in the morning. I wasn’t sure what it was however there was nagging feeling, telling me to: get up out of bed and go to the beach. Like an inner calling beckoning me to run to the beach even though it was dark outside. I tried waking up my husband to go with me. He wasn’t going for it. I tried waking up my sons: they weren’t going for it either. The inner drive was stronger than the rejection. I just had to go.
As I started walking down the lushes’ path to the beach, I started hearing noises like birds chirping in the early morning. Only the noises were not birds they were people giggling and laughing. Curious I continued my jou
ey toward the beach eager to see what was going on. The sun was just starting to cast golden rays of light. When I arrived I looked across the ocean, it was lined with beautiful smiles of joy from all ages of Balinese people. There were families playing in the water with their children, a pregnant woman sitting in the water surrounded by young women pouring water on her belly. Elders were gently splashing in the waves, while lovers danced and laughed caressing the ocean. Every direction as far as I could see, there was love on the beach. It was breath taking. I wondered: “What is going on here? Are this how the Balinese celebrate their morning before the tourists come?” As the sun slowly started rising, pouring sunlight along the waters, sunset colors on the sky, I was mystified seeing so much happiness in the wee morning hours. I asked a stranger by me if this is what they do every morning. He replied, “no, this is a ceremony to -- celebrate a new moon”. I found out later through research that the Balinese Hindu tradition is to wash away all of their sadness, their frustrations, and their fears – anything that was bothering them from the last month to prepare them for the new month. They accomplish this through the joyful art of cleansing themselves in the healing ocean waters. I ran to the ocean and splashed water all over my body, playing in the waves in child like behavior. Happy and free, to join in the tradition of starting over.
Each marker in time like a new moon passing is a chance to start over. May we be like the Balinese’s: let go of the past and begin with joy. Happy Spring