A few years ago, at a new year gathering with a few trusted friends, we pondered our word of the year.   One of my friends pulled out a very large list of words and she suggested we circle those that caught our eye and then narrow it down to one word.  My chosen word was reverence which I came to define as a deep respect for the mystery of life wrapped with wonder and awe.  I tried to see through the lens of reverence not just in my outer world including the natural world (so easy for me) and fellow humans (sometimes not as easy to be honest) but also in myself, a practice!  The following year I was enamored with the word compassion, including self-compassion.    The other day as I was wandering through the woods, my favorite place for introspection, I started thinking about my word for 2023.  The first word that came to me was nonresistance, but then I realized that this word is not stated in the affirmative and although this is a word that I associate with going with the flow of life, I realized it might not be the best idea to start the year with a no. So, I meandered a bit more and almost with a song came up with the word harmony.  Because I was grinning ear to ear and walking with a skip in my step, I knew I was on to something! 

When I arrived at the word harmony, what came into my heart was an agreement or an attuning to the rhythm of nature, an embracing of life and everything that arose this year, the so called good and bad.  It also whispered to me of my own spirituality and a life where God was guiding and singing with me.   There are many references to the word harmony in the bible,  this one speaks to me; Now may God, the source of endurance and encouragement, allow you to live in harmony with each other as you follow the Messiah, Jesus-  Romans 15:5 ISV.  Such a testament to our loving God, the source of endurance and encouragement.  God walking with us through his Son and the Spirit for the long haul and with enthusiasm and truth. 

Of course, I also referenced the dictionary for backup!  Depending on the source harmony can mean anything from living peacefully together, musical notes played together, parts of a whole fitting together nicely and lastly an inner calm or tranquility.  I have always enjoyed the different nuances that just one word can bring in.  All of these definitions resonate with me, from a yogic lens I enjoy how parts of a whole fitting together -often called congruence, relates to our physical yoga practice but also our attitude.  In yoga we may become over focused on all the different parts of the body, with harmony or congruence we consider how all parts (healthy or tweaky) contribute to the whole or the sense of wholeness we find on our yoga mats.  With regards to our attitude I found this sentence when researching the word congruence.. People are drawn to you because they sense you have credibility, integrity, likeability and live with congruence. – The Huffington Post.  Hmmm, something for us to strive for?  Or simple strive to be more authentically us and to aim to model Jesus the one living perfectly congruent with God’s plan.  

I do not know about you but I believe in synchronicity and get pretty lit up when I am aware enough to see this for what it is.  I was doing an online yoga class this past week and the teacher read a beautiful quote just a simple line with so much meaning, I jumped up and jotted it down.  It was from the book The Lord is My Courage by K. J. Ramsey and she says this …the best antidote to stress is our breath and an attuned compassionate presence of someone else.   Honestly, my first thought was attunement , yes we need this! But attunement is also a therapeutic modality of being truly present as a therapist even modeling client’s body language.  My mind went to my word idea for the year harmony and living in attunement with God, myself and others.  How often in conversation are we rushing to our next words, rather than truly being with another and hearing and seeing them deeply.  So, there was this.  But later as the class went on, I realized K. J. was speaking of the compassionate presence of God and this warmed my body and heart while on my yoga mat in such a loving way.

 When we think of harmony related to music we here notes layer on each other to create more depth and emotional texture to the music.  Couldn’t this be true for us as we practice harmony, attuning to ourselves and others but also to God at the same time.  Wow, that would be a truly enriching and encouraging way to live our days.  And we know life is not a constant symphony of joy and peace, but we can bring in practices to remind us of God’s constant presence in all of our moments. 

I feel all these practices are yoga, they are the way, they are the way of endurance and encouragement.   This life is a practice of continually attuning to the one who holds it all together.  As we approach the new year and become a bit more reflective, I encourage you to take time to be still and reflect, truly gaze at the character of Jesus and allow all of who he is to reflect back on you. Because of who He is and God’s divine plan for us, we already have the light of God within us.  Our egos and past and present conditioning tell us so many things about ourselves that may not be in harmony with what God says we are.  Paul in the chapter of Romans, encourages us when he says this:  So then, let us pursue [with enthusiasm] the things which make for peace and the building up of one another [things which lead to spiritual growth] – Romans 14-19 ISV.