A gentle rain now falls on the thorough darkness of the first night of the year, 2017. Earlier, this morning, we awoke to a thick layer of high fog holding in a frigid dawn throughout the redwood-columned, sandy-beach ringed, rolling mossy forest-encircled hills of the curve of bay called Santa Cruz. Just hours before, many of us donned fine clothing, dined on delicious cuisine, filled dance floors, lifted glasses to toast, gathered with dear friends, turned our scarves and collars to the chill, and raised our voices to make one final cheer for the year gone by. Though this may seem to be nothing more than a superficial display, the reflective heart sees beneath the surface. Looking with the eyes of a meditator, the revelry of New Year’s Eve reveals a deep human longing: the need to celebrate the preciousness of our existence. The heart is a joyful being; it wants to laugh, to cry, to sing, to dance, to look back with festive reminiscence. To mark the miracle of life with explosive abandon is natural to people everywhere.

Not only does the heart find solace in celebrating the wonder of another year of life passing, but it also wants to be renewed. It wants another chance, a chance to begin again. This is New Year’s Day. We awake, perhaps still a bit dazed from the decadence of the night before. Now, we can turn to face the new dawn. Perhaps this happens on the seashore, where party goers find themselves gazing at the rising sun, thoughtful and tender hearted. A meditator sees the unfolding of New Year’s Day as an expression of another natural human desire: the desire for hope. Every one of us wants our life to have meaning, to have some encouraging brightness leading us along.

This new year, this evening and this morning, can remind us to do two things: celebrate wholeheartedly the miracle of our own life, of friendship, of wellness. That longing is right and natural. And when the morning comes, stand on the shore of the dawn of your life, facing the reassuring brilliance of the rising sun. Let its light shine in your grateful, tear filled eyes, grateful for another chance to begin again.