Goddesses in the Dust: Epiphany, not Resolution

An archaeologist unearths the divine feminine, one archetype at a time...

The word epiphany is from the ancient Greek word ἐπιφάνεια, which means manifestation, striking appearance or sudden realization. Last year I wrote about Epiphany, the Christian holy day, which occurs on January 6 and is the twelfth day of Christmas. It is also the root of the Italian word and custom of La Befana, or an old woman who delivers treats to children on the eve of Epiphany. 

This year I thought about what epiphany means to me. An awakening of awareness can come in many forms. Instead of resolutions I'd like to propose an alternative - what if we were not to promise to lose weight, exercise more and be nicer to others? What if, instead, we decided to explore ourselves? The epiphany here is not about how we can make ourselves better, but how we can simply treat ourselves better by examining our lives? 

Another word for this is mindfulness. As the author Jon Kabat-Zinn states, "Mindfulness in an ancient Buddhist practice which has profound relevance for our present-day lives. From the Buddhist perspective, our ordinary waking state of consciousness is seen as being  severely limited and limiting, resembling in many respects an extended dream rather than wakefulness. Meditation helps us wake up from this sleep of automaticity and unconsciousness, thereby making it possible for us to live our lives with access to the full spectrum of our conscious and unconscious possibilities. Sages, yogis, Zen masters have been exploring this territory systematically for thousands of years; in the process they have learned something which may now be profoundly beneficial in the West to counterbalance our cultural orientation towards controlling and subduing nature rather than honoring that we are in intimate part of it. Their collective experience suggests that by investigating inwardly our own nature as beings and, particularly, the nature of our own minds through careful and systematic self-observation, we may be able to live lives of greater satisfaction, harmony and wisdom."

Here's my meditation spot, where I will be sitting in 2015...

Do you practice any form of meditation? If so, what kind, and do you feel it is helpful?