New Year, New Mind By Elle Wilson

The other day I was remembering one of those long car rides as a child.

You know, back in the day, before we had handheld devices, or on-board DVD players, and when you were riding in the car, that’s all you were doing. Riding in the car. Maybe the radio was playing, or Mom or Dad had a tape on (yes, a tape, not a CD or an MP3 player, or Sirius Radio or Spotify - can you guess how old I am?), and there was - time.

Time.

In between the stops for a drive-through meal, or a squabble with a sibling, or yet another ”are we there yet?” there was time to look out the window, see the passing cars, people, trees, cities or fields or seaside … time to day-dream, time to explore ideas, thoughts, images, without any other motivation than the simple joy of imagining.

And maybe even - in those quieter moments - thinking nothing. Just being, just seeing, just moving.

The gentle thrum of the motor merging with the gentle thrum of presence. And sometimes, so naturally, sliding into a sweet car-ride nap. Maybe on my mother’s lap, if she was sitting in the back with me. Heaven.

My dearest mentor once referred to the mind, in its true form, as a “wonderful Exploratorium for love”. To my adult mind, this is almost inconceivable. It’s filled with so many details, some of them important, many of them no longer needed, long past their use-by date, but still making the rounds (and the rounds and the rounds) of my mind. It’s like being stuck in front of a television show I’ve seen hundreds of times and I’d like to turn it off, but I can’t find the remote.

But then I remember just a little bit of my childmind. The soft, open, curious yet relaxed mind of wonder, questions, possibilities and dreams - the mind that enjoyed the endless car (or bus, or plane) rides. The child-mind that created stories so light and free, there was no heaviness of attachment. As soon as we got to our destination, I popped up and it was on to the next thing. No sticking. No holding back. Just movement. What does all this have to do with being an entrepreneur?

Everything.

The inspiration that caused you to go out on a limb and start your own business - the sense of possibility, the quality of door after door (in your mind) banging open as you allowed yourself to envision a different world and reality for yourself and your family - has a very similar quality to that child-mind. And those ideas - those startling movements of newness and creativity - they can’t happen when our minds are full all the time.

They can’t happen when there’s always something on TV in the living room of our brains. The still small voice can easily be drowned out by the drone of the internal weather reporter, ceaselessly describing unnecessary details or drawing comparisons with other nearby weather systems (translate: people).

This year, if I wish anything for you and for your business, it’s the gift of simple, soft, empty - time. Time to drop in and listen. Time to lift your head and see. Time to shift your focus from the constant up-close detail to see a little more of your horizon. The horizon for your business, but even more, the horizon for you. Your horizon.

It doesn’t have to take long. 5 minutes without a device can seem like an eternity - and yet 5 minutes of simply available space can take you into a completely new direction that, had you been occupied with Insta, FB or your email, may have been quietly, utterly, missed.

Mornings are a great time for this brief island of quiet connectedness. The freshness of the day and the relative quiet as the world around you is just getting going can be more conducive to stillness. “But what if I can’t sit still?” No problem. Go for a walk. And leave all your devices behind.

This isn’t meditating, although meditating can be lovely, and helpful. This is more like gentle, unstructured listening. What matters most of all is the quality of your presence. Be warm, be available, be simple. Drop all your intentions and your intelligence. Open the window of your familiar thinking and let your child-mind out to stretch its wings. And now is the perfect time...

A continuous offering of newness is one of the greatest blessings of the natural world. There are cycles upon cycles and every one of them has their own magic. After winter, there is always spring. Every moonless sky is soon (meaning, in approximately 27 days) to be flooded with the light of the full moon. Every new day can feel like the chance to start again, to re-set. And every inhale and exhale can provide the opportunity to let go and relax, when we allow ourselves to.

But a new year - that’s a special cycle. All cultures honor the passing of the old year and the coming of the new (albeit, not all on the same day). We instinctively know the import of this cycle - it’s a much different level than an inhale and an exhale, or the passing of a day. There is more gravitas, more grandeur. More pressure too. Many of us are all too familiar with new year’s resolutions that don’t make it out of the month of January.

But this year, make it sweet, make it easy, make it soft. You’re not trying to be someone else, you are reconnecting with a quieter and more imaginative you. You are leaning into a deeper you, putting the ear of your mind to the quiet, soft mouth of your heart.

You’ll know you’re on the right track if you start to feel happy without a reason.

New year, new mind.

Enjoy my loves, and let me know how it goes.