The Dragontree

The first of January has often felt to me like an arbitrary date to divide our lives by, since most of our projects and phases don’t conform to the calendar year. But I’ve decided it’s as good a time as any to make resolutions, and perhaps there’s some group momentum we can generate as a community by aligning ourselves around virtuous intentions together. 

Are you familiar with the concept of “drafting” or “slipstreaming”? It’s what happens when you’re in the wake of air or water created behind a moving vehicle. You can move with less effort because the object in front of you blocks the wind resistance for you and sweeps you along with them. Cyclists and race car drivers do it all the time – drafting the bike or car in front of them by staying right behind them. The only one who doesn’t benefit much from it is the vehicle in the front. 

I propose we join together in a slipstreaming experiment. We’ll all be drafting a guy named Rodney who lives in Hoboken and is really jazzed about his new diet. Our collective stream will usher in a new era for 2021. 

Ok, to be fair it’s not really up to Rodney to carry us all along. In reality we’ll form something more like a massive armada of ships, all sailing in the same general direction and creating our own current. To be part of it, you just need to utilize your creative power – something we’re all born with often lose sight of. 

I encourage you to take the opportunity to consider how you’d like 2021 to go. Your mind may be tempted to limit your vision to very modest changes, but the past year should show us how dramatically things can change in a short period of time. So dream big. 

What kinds of things would you like to see in the coming year? People transcending sociopolitical schisms and coming together in a big way? The end of the pandemic? A revelation in the management of wildfires? A powerful way to reverse climate change? Economic prosperity for common people more than mega-corporations? A discovery that will make clean water available to all those who need it? True equality for women, people of color, and all minorities? 

Write about your vision for yourself and the world at large, and then give it a name – as if it were a movie or story you’re entitling, a Theme for 2021. (If you have a Dreambook, there’s a page dedicated to his.) You may wish to create two themes – one for you personally and one for the world – though your personal theme should clearly fit in with the world’s theme.

The year has a magical way of unfolding in accordance with the theme we specify – especially if we’re intentional about it, meaning we make a ritual of it. You can choose the format for this ritual. Following are some ideas, but feel free to modify them. 

• Establish a change of environment and consciousness using music, candles, scents, drumming, meditation, singing, chanting, dancing, walking, anointing yourself with oils, going to a special place, connecting with the elements, calling in your guides, or whatever works for you to access a feeling of peace, receptivity, and power. Make sure you’ll be undisturbed for a while, and have paper and pen nearby.
• Tune in. Close your eyes and invite your Source / Highest Self to express itself through you.  
• Declare your intention for this ritual. You could say something like, “I open this ritual for the purpose of accessing clarity and power to establish the course of the coming year. I ask for insight to recognize how my path has served me thus far. I ask for guidance to know where to direct my focus and energies in order to live as an embodiment of my Authentic Self; to open my heart fully to love and healing; to effectively share my gifts with the world; and to release any blocks or patterns that aren’t serving me.” (Again, say this in whatever words feel good and right to you.)
• Connect with your creative power. You’ve always had this gift, even if it has seemed at times that the course of your life isn’t what you would have chosen. If this connection isn’t clear to you, you might try asking for help. You could say something like, “Dear [Highest Self / Spirit / God / Divine Mother, etc.], help me to understand my creative power. Let me feel it. Show me how I have used it in the past. Help me to recognize what is possible.” 
• Feel, intuit, and visualize the coming year. Who will you BE this year? What will you bring to your community? How will you be a positive influence on your environment? What will you be a channel for? How will you speak intentionally? How will you grow? What will you let go of? How will the world respond to your love and light? Take plenty of time with this. 
• Now, allow this picture to crystalize into a clear intention. Let words form. What is the emerging theme? 
  • For example: The Year of Loving Myself Completely. The Year of Living my Purpose. The Year of Learning to Trust. The Year of Shining my Light Upon the World. The Year of Owning My Power. The Year of Healing my Body. The Year of Playfulness. The Year of Lightheartedness. 
• If you wish to set an intention for the world, be sure your own personal gain, approval, and control are out of the equation. What would you want for the world if you fully believed that it was an extension of yourself? What would you want for the world if you believed that the world’s healing and happiness was inextricable from your own healing and happiness? Again, let yourself be guided by your divine inner vision. Then allow the picture to crystalize into a clear intention and let words arise that express this intention. 
  • For example: The Year of Remembering We’re All Connected. The Year of Forgiving Each Other. The Year of Great Healing. The Year of Returning to Simplicity. The Year of Finding Our Hearts and Living Through Them. The Year of Being Gentle with One Another. The Year of Restoring Natural Balance. The Year of Peace. 
• Write your personal and/or world intention(s) down. I like to use scratch paper to refine the words and then write my final statement on a special piece of paper with a special pen. 
• Close the ritual in a way that works for you. Thank your guides / angels / Highest Self / Divine Source for guidance. Intend to honor this guidance by dedicating yourself to this theme for the year. 
• Devote yourself to your theme(s). Doing this ritual and writing on the paper are a great first step. But now you must be a full-time advocate of the theme(s). This doesn’t necessarily mean physical work in support of the theme(s), though it may.
• Don’t get too attached or picky about the details of how exactly it should look. And abstain from the urge to evaluate short periods of time (i.e., mini-chapters in a much bigger story) as proof that it isn’t working. 
• Most important is that you REMEMBER the theme(s), believe in the theme(s), honor the theme(s). Let your thoughts, words, and actions be aligned in service to the theme(s). Read your statement at least once a day. Talk about the theme(s) with your friends and family. Share about your theme(s) on social media. Be open to opportunities to advance and actualize your theme(s). The more you give yourself over to it, the more you will be amazed at how things unfold. 

After the upheaval that was 2020, I know more people who are consciously engaging in a process like this than I’ve ever known before. I’m excited to see where we’ll be in another year. If you feel moved, please share the theme of your year in the comment area below! 

Be well,

Dr. Peter Borten