Leaping into a New Year

This is a leap year, which means we get an extra day for doing or being whatever we choose. Something I am doing is spending more time feeding my spirit, so I watched Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sessions. She showcased three speakers in each of four hour-long sessions and the presentation by Rob Bell was on the joy of growing younger.

A spiritual teacher, Bell brought up a passage from the New Testament: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians, 4:16 NIV)

He explained two Greek words for new and pointed out that instead of relating to time, this verse relates to moving from one stage to a higher one.

Year after year, we get better and better as we gain more experience. Year after year, we are being renewed.

How do we experience renewal? When we recognize that we are bigger than whatever situations we face. When we realize that we are more than just our bodies. As Bell put it, it’s not that we have a spiritual life, we are a spiritual life. Beyond the body there is the true self, an essence that transcends situations and time.

We feel younger when we lighten our load. When we apply our accumulated wisdom. When we release things that just don’t matter. When we understand that we are not the greatest power in the universe.

Bell closed his session by challenging the audience to write down a statement he’d heard from a 92-year-old woman:

“My name is _____________. I’m ___ years old, and I’m just getting started.”

Sounds like a terrific way to start a new year. Edited versions of the Super Soul Sessions can be seen in four segments on the OWN channel or the full, complete program can be watched at www.supersoul.tv. Take the leap!