New Year's Eve

...as for 2007, so far so good.

I welcomed the New Year at a gathering of sober, alternative living-types at a peculiar Inn about 16 miles outside of Ojai, CA. It was one of those last minute decisions where you have so much to choose from and you end up picking the most random thing to do.

When my fellow comrades and I arrived at the gathering of 50 or so people of all ages and from all backgrounds just after 10:30, we were enveloped by warm greetings, laughter, friendly dogs, chant music, candles and people gathering in a circle on the floor of a very regular banquet room on the side of the Inn.

I recognized a couple of familiar faces from the yoga community in LA, and everyone else seemed to also be from LA. The feeling was good.

Mikey, the facilitator of this group opened the circle with a warm welcome and went on to explain the protocol of the evening up until midnight.

We started with a brief centering meditation, all eyes were closed, and a couple started playing drums and the flute. It was nice.

When we opened our eyes, Mikey announced that we would take turns offering gratitude for something and announcing our New Year's intentions. And finally, we would draw a promise from the "Promise bowl", which had about 60 slips of paper in it, and hold the hand of the person who had gone before us.

Now, I've been in situations like this before and from experience I knew that all of this would take the better part of an hour, if not longer. My only concern was that my back wasn't supported and I feared that I would be in agonizing lower-back pain 20 minutes in to the circle.

As if reading my mind, Mikey asked everyone to keep their comments brief---no longer than a minute and a half or so. Then he volunteered to start: and proceeded to speak for about 4 minutes.

I was next and decided to keep it extra brief, yet genuine. I said that I was grateful for all the things in 2006 that didn't go the way I wanted them to. And I was. I said that my resolution for 2007 is to follow my heart with absolute fearlessness. And it is. And my promise was to listen more than I speak. I think I have that one down already. But every now and again I catch myself slipping. So it was a good reminder.

We moved on to the next person and then the next. Some people kept it brief. Some people spoke longer. Strangely, I found that my inevitable lower back pain made me more present with everyone and that also made me feel good.

The circle ended at about 14 minutes past midnight (Mikey ended up rewinding the clock twice near the end so that everyone could "finish" before midnight) and then we all counted down and celebrated.

The music began and everyone got up and started hugging and greeting everyone else. It was beautiful! So many warm hugs and sincere greetings.

The rest of the night consisted of a little dancing, a little drum playing, snacking on hummus and olives, drinking plenty of water, chatting with my new friends, and people-watching.

We drove back to Los Angeles at about 3am and I was home and in my warm bed by 4:30.

I felt good about my unexpected night among new friends and I resolved to bring in the following new years in a similar manner.