Another new year will dawn this week. The most important piece of advice I can share with you has nothing to do with diet and exercise, interestingly enough. Its all about living in the present because I firmly believe that “where your attention goes, there goes your energy.”

Each day we have a specific amount of energy that seems to be allotted to us. If our attention is fixated on worrying about the future, concern about the economy or is fixated on the past and the “good old days,” then there is much less pure energy left to use right here and now.

Sometimes I think that many of us are blocked from living fully in the present because we have left a part of ourselves elsewere. Perhaps, we have been the victims of abuse or trauma of some sort (accident, divorce, operation, shock). Maybe we have loved and lost, so that a part of our heart is still with that person. Sometimes we are souls “missing in action” literally.

We can be prevented from living in the present by harboring resentment or anger which binds us to another. These emotions actually keep us tied to others in emotional entanglements so that we aren’t free to move on.

Sadly, harboring resentment or anger is truly a vicious cycle. It is draining of our energy and we are somehow always focused on the unresolved situation. By forgiving, we free up ALL of our energy for positive and constructive movement.

I always like to think of life’s injustices as a way that life brings to our attention lessons still unlearned. We are not truly present until we somehow resolve our anger and learn to forgive. This is not as easy as it seems and I know from personal experience that sometimes the injustice is too great to forgive. This is the time when you need to become your “best” spiritual self and ask a higher power to help you forgive that individual.

By forgiving the soul, we remind ourselves of ancient teachings which state that “hate never destroys hate” and “love only destroys hate.” Love frees, hatred binds.

Now sometimes the most important individual to forgive is……yourself. You must learn to look at your mistakes (maybe poor food choices, overeating, undereating, bulemia, anorexia, unwise business decisions, trusting the wrong people) and regard them as learning experiences in the book of life.

As Shakespeare once said, “What’s past is prologue.”

While some of us are trapped in the past, others are fixating too much on the future. I do both, sometimes but am working at constantly reminding myself that any kind of anxiety about the future is really a search for our spiritual Source and the understanding that we will be supplied with what we need…

My favorite Bach flower remedies for dwelling on the past is Honeysuckle. I use Gentian for worrying about the future with a daily dose of Willow for injustices that bother my sense of fairness and personal honor code. These remedies can be found in most health food stores or online.

The Bach remedies are wonderful balms in this day and time of uncertainly, change, and transformation. They help to harmonize your emotions and take the “stress” out of any type of “distress” it seems.

I hope that all of your will enjoy a new year that will herald a fresh start in all the ways that please your heart.

Happy New Year!!!