Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe it’s 2023. I think I have said this exact phrase for the last three years in a row. It’s time to add another thought to the beginning of the year. I am hesitant. I will admit that. I am hesitant to claim, “THIS IS MY YEAR.” I personally hope that all of us have some sort of crazy success in ways that lift our soul in 2023.
I just hope that this year, whatever we decide to do, we experience excitement inside ordinary moments of living. You know, that day to day of moments that are strewn together like mala beads, guiding us forward into our the moments, and the next and so on. I so resisted the urge to write ‘guiding us forward into our unknown future.’

Oh, wow, right? I am making a joke. This is a great sign for me during the first week of January. I am not hunkering down with fifty thousand goals and just a few that seem like, well, yes, you must follow through and finish. These are my goals for 2023 for my writing world. Follow through. Are you like me where sometimes you hit the tip of something big in your heart and it scares you, so you pull away? That happens in art and in projects, too, I think. You love something so much you don’t want to screw it up, you hope what you do work on improves it and have great faith your intuition is leading you right to where you need to be going.
I hope you are taking time for yourself and having some good old-fashioned-FUN. It’s so looked down upon these days. Keep the nose to the grindstone. Go higher, achieve more, one more rung on the ladder. I have been so guilty of this, too. In fact, I have written books on this subject and I just can’t think for the life of me if I will ever get back to that way of thinking. It’s not to say I am against goal setting. I just hope if you are setting goals, PLACE YOURSELF ON YOU GOAL LIST.

I did that last year. I took a detour of the many projects I bury myself with each year. Instead of writing one more self-help book, I took time to write some essays from my current world and past memories about living in California, The Golden State, and how liberating it was for my soul to dive in and go away from that goal achieving driven world. I finished two manuscripts that both still need quite a bit of work. One at a time. So, yes, back to do you ever feel so in love with something, you feel a bit thrown off and you need to take a moment and breathe?
That’s how I feel with my current manuscript I am about to insert five new chapters, and estimated 7000-7500 words. I have calculated the length and discovered some patches necessary for this fun Sci-fi fiction fantasy book I began writing when my mother was recovering from open heart surgery during The Pandemic in 2021. Masks were still in then and the great divide was just about to take off with the vaccines. I can see now in ways how this story originated in my heart.
Do you have that one project, too, that you have been avoiding, that you love so much, that word fear keeps you just thinking, ‘oh, but I don’t want to ruin it…’
Let us be bold together in 2023, dearest visitor of this website. Let us place aside our fears of failing or lack of perfection and just go for it. Let us go forth with great courage and boldness into that space that scares us. That’s where I am heading for 2023. I am taking the deep dive. Wish me luck, it’s a little scary when you throw caution to the wind and start listening to the beating of that intuitive side we all have that just wants to lead the way.
I am looking for a quote now from the internet to wow you with as I leave it for my contemplation, too. (Joke above, please note. 🙂 )
“People are running, running, but there is no place in the world to which they can flee to escape themselves. Ultimately, each one must face himself.” Paramahansa Yogananda
That’s the quote I found to motivate us for 2023. If you do not know who Yogananda was, check out on Gias-AWAKEN; it will blow your mind. If a saint ever roamed this earth, which I believe they did, he is one to be sure.
So hang in there, dearest visitor. Have a little fun. Go soul searching with me. Let’s have the courage to finish those projects and areas of our lives that need attention. Let us discover the beauty inside; face ourselves and learn how to love all of our flaws and gifts in equal amounts.
Happy New Year,
Machel (Ma-shel) – Yes, that is necessary. I have lived a lifetime spelling my name. Thanks, mom! I love that. I do. Or you can just call me by my nickname, Mimi.
