The Nature of Beginnings

Here are six thoughts from different people on the nature of beginnings. Share the questions with your family or use them at your holiday table to inspire meaningful discussion about the nuances of the year past and year to come.

All beginnings are difficult.

Mechilta de Rabbi Yishmael

• Why is it that beginnings have to be so difficult?

It’s a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy.
Lucille Ball

• How might you become able to recognize what makes you happy in 5773?

There will be a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.
Louis L’Amour

• Was there a time this past year when you believed everything was finished? How were you able to begin again?

A time comes when you need to stop waiting for the person you want to become and start being the person you want to be.
Bruce Springsteen

• Who is the person you want to be in the coming year?

May this year’s troubles end, and a year of blessing begin.
Abraham Hazzan Girondi

• Which burdens will you lay down this year and which blessings will you raise up?