A meme is an idea or cultural standard that gets imitated and expanded upon in an evolutionary way, from Greek “mimeme” (imitated thing).

Anyone can view a new year, or a new moment, as a fresh start, a hope for greater understanding.  This numerologist suggests because 2014 is a universal “7” year, we will have space to place greater attention on self reflection and settling in ourselves.  This jives exactly with my intention for 2014 before I ever read the numerology article.

My personal meme for reflection in my new year is studying and meditating on the question “are all relationships cages?”

So far I have identified some truths:

1) As long as relationship with self feels like a cage, all relationships with others will feel like a cage.  Over the year, I intend to study this further, become an expert on the cage, and see what resonates with my heart that might help me step outside my own caged self.

2) We all emerge into this world amid cages of relationships, our immediate, extended and universal families.  Some of these cages may be soft, roomy, feather lined, others hard metal and cramped, others barely visible leaving us to forge identities by seeking other cages at an early age.

3) I hope to reach more than a hand through the bars of my cage and fly.

There are many tools you can use and many questions you can ask to arrive at self understanding – meditation and creating space for solitude in nature are my favorites.  Yesterday I participated in a visioning exercise of creating a 2014 collage from magazine images with women in my family.  Below are a few fuzzy images from my new year’s collage to give you a sense of what you might do on your own.  It may take months until you understand why you gravitate toward a specific image or word, but go with your gut!

The optical illusion in this corner is a lake reflecting clouds that looks like clouds rather than a lake.

Reliable way to download images from my new camera is pending, so text in my images is hard to read.  In this left upper quadrant, the words say: “Find Your Island – Surround yourself with the things that matter most.”  And a quote from a 1980s magazine:  “Unless we understand wildlife and take action to protect it, the story of more and more species will come to an end”  and “Find More.  Search Less.”

The spiny pod is a carrot seed under a microscope, and the little strip that includes what looks like a black heart and a tomato are actually tropical seeds hardy enough to be carried by oceans (crabwood, coral bean, and sea heart).

The “Announcing yet another miracle” would be if I would become involved with fewer strange men in my lifetime and if I actually lived the phrase “Thank God it’s Monday.”

The wise one in the center is Padmapani from a 5th century cave in India, the Bearer of the Lotus, image of tranquility and infinite compassion.

The left lower quadrant speaks of oceans and soup representing my intent to hold monthly soup gatherings in 2014.  Blue blurb says, “Realm of the ocean works with the atmosphere to regulate climate and make Earth habitable.”