Perhaps some of you have already set your New Year's intentions. Even if you haven't, that's okay. I know that you are often thinking of your hopes and dreams and desires for change or transformation. And even if you haven't spoken it out loud--it has already entered your heart.

What I am here to tell you today is that what you project onto the future, is actually here now. In this moment. The dream or change that you desire, has already filled in every room in your heart and is no longer even there any more.  It’s now in your blood stream.

We've just come away from a wonderful holiday that is all about a birth story. No matter what your holiday persuasion, it think it is wonderful to celebrate a birth story. I love birth stories. Most people do, because they are triumph, an accomplishment. And there is also a new beginning, a freshness. They are exciting.

But I would invite you to remember that all births begin with a pregnancy. The poet Rilke is famous for saying “Everything is gestation and then birthing.”  He’s not talking about human babies. We grow and birth other kinds of babies all the time--like, a beautiful art project, or a change in behavior. All these things grow in our hearts for a while before we may actually make the art piece or before the change becomes evident to those outside of us.

For example, I was a writer long before I ever published a book. I was a healer, long before I ever knew I would become one. I was a mother long before I ever had a child.

So whatever your intentions are for the new year. I’d love to invite you to embrace the idea of how you already are, or do, or have what you want and hope for.

Birth stories are magical and inspirational. But if I could have one wish for everyone this New Year it would be that we could all remember that everything is gestation and then birthing. And so whatever your goals, even if you can’t tell the birth story of that goal yet, remember that you already are what you are becoming, and that each step of the journey to becoming has value. And by appreciating each day and each step, you honor the pregnancy as well as the birth.

And if I could have a second wish this New Year, it would be that we can all recognize in each other, the good fruit we are each gestating. May we all have joy for each other and for what we are and what we are becoming.