Seeking Dragons

STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD OF ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS

photo credit: Azure Dragon and Healer – AI Generated via freepik.com

As we near another year’s ending, then turning the page to 2025, I have been doing some reflecting and have come to the following conclusion:

It’s all changing and we are, all of us, dying.

Now this might sound a bit depressing but stay with me. In a more expansive, eloquent telling, R.A. Salvatore takes it to the next level:

We are all dying, every moment that passes of every day. That is the inescapable truth of this existence. It is a truth that can paralyze us with fear, or one that can energize us with impatience, with the desire to explore and experience, with the hope- nay, the iron-will!- to find a memory in every action. To be alive, under sunshine, or starlight, in weather fair or stormy. To dance with every step, be they through gardens of flowers or through deep snows.

I’ve always loved the idea of starting over, putting things behind me, welcoming the new, the unseen, the not-yet-lived experiences to come. And marking this encounter, the idea of having more time ahead, to explore, to connect, make new friends, and maybe learn a new thing or two. I gave up making New Year’s resolutions a couple decades ago and have since tried many variations of initiating the good stuff – of what’s to come. I’ve compiled a list, with the help of AI, below. And there may be many more methods, and versions of this phenomenon that I’ve not mentioned that you have tried in your own life.

SOME ALTERNATIVES TO SETTING NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS THAT I HAVE TRIED

But as I’ve become older, aged, and steeped within life and her experiences, I find that things have shifted. Large swaths of time ahead of me have shrunk, bringing an insistent urging to acknowledge the holding of less time. This shift in “thinking”, has given me the opportunity to, instead, make conscious moments of quality time. To make them count. Exploring concepts like mindfulness and slow living anchor these ideas into a practice. Remaining curious allows new paths to appear that might lead to roads less-traveled, something I’m always in pursuit of.

This year I look to dragons and the thousands of years of Chinese culture to bestow a little luck and beauty on what’s ahead.

photo credit: Albert Canite, unsplash

Chinese medicine saved my life a few decades ago when Western medicine had failed. It failed to find the name of what ailed me - what had made me very sick. Without a name, there was no treatment. It was a synchronistic moment, meeting the Chinese Medicine Woman, after spending years going from Western doctor to doctor, and test after test with no definitive results. That “moment” turned into an experience, over several years, that added a shape to my life - of allowing the unseen and trusting a culture that had evolved over thousands of years to treat and heal my ailment. It made a believer out of me – a believer of the ways of a people, of methods steeped in an old, no -- an ancient culture, of the seemingly mystical, of the invisible, of a complete medical system I came to not understand fully but also to trust.

This year, I turn towards this rich culture, again, and see what I can see, learn what I can learn and hopefully take something with me into the new year that will bring joy, protection, and empowerment. Even if it is only in my mind; psychophysiology or biopsychology tells us, the body will follow.

I have spent the day researching Chinese culture, mythology and dragons. Though I am not born under the “Dragon” sign in Chinese mythology, I discovered that regardless of one’s birth sign (I am a goat or sheep), that anyone can tap into the Dragon’s symbolism through daily practices like meditation, visualization, or wearing dragon imagery or bringing Dragon iconography into one’s life. This can bring about positive traits like courage, resilience, strength, and protection. The dragon is paired with intelligence, authority and good fortune.

photo credit: freepik.com

Currently I do not own any Dragons, real or imaginary, but this may change in the near future. I can see doors opening to a great room full of ideas to explore: tattoos, jewelry, collecting iconography or artworks, small statues. It is a large room with tall ceilings.

As 2024 comes to an end, it feels like I am standing in the middle of a road readying myself for great change and not knowing how I’m going to get there. In addition to typed text on a screen, handwritten notes of lists on paper, and pages of journal entries of what I am leaving behind and what I wish to bring with me into the new year, I’ll close by saying, “I’ll take what she’s having”.

photo credit: AI Generated via freepik.com

I’ll leave the light on.

Credit: Alternatives for setting New Year’s resolutions