Happy 2015! I hope this New Year brings you love, health, safety and happiness. 

My year began with a trip up the coast alongside my husband and trusty canine companion. We hit the road in our 1980 Minnie Winnie, spent a few very cold nights camping in Point Reyes among the Douglas-fir trees and were lulled to sleep by serenading owls nestled in nearby branches.

Recently inheriting this Minnie Winnie has been a blessing in more ways than one. On some level, it represents a manifestation of my life-long vision of hitting the open road, wild and carefree, with my dog and life partner by my side. On the other hand, it represents an opening to the reality that these visions we cultivate are just that…Visions. Underneath the image is where we really live our lives. The truth is that Ms. Winnie, as we call her, is a camper with years of wear and tear…issues that are costly in money, time and peace of mind. My dog is the best dog on Earth (I may be biased), but he sheds incessantly and has gas that will drive even those with the strongest tolerance running for the hills. My partner and I are navigating all the dimensions of what it means to be a human being both within and outside the context of our relationship.

They say that teachers are everywhere if you’re willing to be open. I’ve begun to realize that Ms. Winnie is teaching me to embrace what lies underneath the visions I cling to. The things that seem to go wrong aren’t necessarily wrong at all. Ms. Winnie is helping to mirror when I’m stuck in what should be, when I’m comparing reality to my ideal and when I’m not engaged in the moments unfolding before me because I’m clinging to the version of things I had planned out in my mind.

I was recently touched by a teacher’s decision to marry his life…to really commit to being with his life as it is, spending less time focused on the things that don’t match his perfect version. I’d like to invite us all to marry our lives and see how it goes to commit to the present moment more often than we get lost in how we think things should be.

I’m grateful to Ms. Winnie for shining a light on this notion that there is no perfect way to do our lives and that, probably, one of the most important and liberating lessons we can learn is to let go of this concept altogether.