The Beginning of Beginnings
"To live a truly creative life, we need always cast a critical look at where we presently are, attempting always to discern where we have become stagnant and where new beginning might be ripening.
- John O'Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us
It’s February 1st.
It can be a quiet, relaxing seasonal moment - but also feel a little blah.
Many people are struggling with personal challenges or feeling with the weight of collective suffering.
Some of my clients describe languishing: a state characterized by not being in crisis but not thriving, either. Languishing can feel like moving along with a dissatisfied ‘meh’ quality or disconnected from purpose.
(Resource: Adam Grant on how to stop languishing and start finding flow).
Especially when we’re feeling these energies, authentic beginnings can offer our lives new vitality - and are worth listening and paying attention to.
In the Northern Hemisphere, we're experiencing winter's ebb and glimmers of spring are in the air: louder birdsong, the days stretching out with more light.
Today is Imbolc - a traditional Celtic holy day that honors the midpoint between Winter Soltice and Spring Equinox, based on an old Irish word that means, "in the belly" (honoring conception in the ewes).
Tiny indicators of new life - often under the surface of what the eye can see - can be understood as
The beginning of beginnings
I've been feeling that energy myself: amidst the winter pull for baths, long sleeps, reading novels, puzzles and some good shows, I've noticed new seeds of potentiality stirring:
I’ve working behind the scenes to refresh my website; it feels like I’m in the process of shedding an old skin and evolving into a whole new iteration of myself and my business
I’m noodling on visions, plans and dreams for the year
I’m inviting subtle yet healthy shifts in the intimacy maps of my life
I’m taking a break from sugar and paying renewed attention to nutrition
Novelty is boosting me - and the hopefulness of beginnings are also helping me endure the painful parts of life.
I see many of my loved ones and clients also turning fresh pages, considering novel ideas and bravely putting new choices - tiny and herculean - into motion.
Often, the beginning of beginnings are quiet, even imperceptible on the surface of our lives.
You might be:
daring to quietly ask yourself new questions
paying closer attention to your dreams and longings
having conversations that open up new perspectives
Do you glimpse new sparks of possibility?
You May Be Navigating a Renewed Beginning
Sometimes we’re not starting something new, but mustering the courage to resume something important.
For me, I'm committed to re-establishing adulting financial habits that I dropped along the way of early motherhood and the worst of Covid.
It's ongoing, crunchy and vulnerable terrain for me.
Many of my clients are beginning again, too:
paying attention to creative projects that kept slipping to the bottom of the pile
resuming healthier eating and exercise habits
nurturing important relationships: setting boundaries, speaking up, starting therapy…
Beginning something again can require even more courage than a fresh start: in order to find the resilience to recommit, we may have to tenderly relate to shame, discouragement or fear rooted in past failures or disappointments.
Beginning anew, we take the risk to trust ourselves (again!).
If you relate to this, please know that I'm in solidarity and sending support and faith your way.
Related Resources:
For a New Beginning - a blessing | poem by John O'Donohue 🌿
Eight Things to Get You Moving When You Don't Feel Like It - for beginnings that are important when you're not inspired 🐢
Ready: How to Know When To Stay and When to Go - if you are at a crossroads or threshold moment, I hope this book by therapist David Richo helps you discern wise ways forward
Your ShopGirl - if you feel a longing to refresh your style, your closet or your wardrobe
Beginnings can take on all flavours - from the beautiful to brutal - but they inevitably usher in new life.
Sometimes our challenge is to discern where we are wisely and patiently waiting to start something new and where we are unnecessarily equivocating when we should simply take the risk and initiate a beginning.
If you want any coaching support with this tender, brave terrain, please feel free to set up a free consult to chat.
I’m cheering on your courage to nurture your beginnings of beginnings, your seeds in the dark.
Warmly, Nicola XO
Nicola Holmes is a Change Coach who helps people turn their potent questions, dreams and goals into inspired action. With warmth and wisdom, she’ll guide you to untangle constraints and cultivate courage to create a more aligned and joyful life. She has a BASc in Human Development, an MEd in Adult Learning and spent two decades working in the non-profit sector. Along with coaching for 15 years, she’s mama to two spirited kids and devoted to Buddhism. Having recently gone through long-Covid and a move, she brings empathy to others exploring how they’ve changed and who they’re becoming in turbulent times. Check out Nicola @nicolaholmescoach or join the email party for encouragement to fuel the changes you want.
