With the changing of the calendar there is universal urge to send good wishes to those whom we know, and with the widespread use of social media, it is possible to fire off hearts, praying hands and flowers to hundreds or even thousands of people with just a simple click. That facility need not diminish the meaning. There is no doubt that every wish is sincere: we DO wish blessings on the lives of our loved ones; we DO hope for their happiness, good health and prosperity; we DO wish that all could live in peace and harmony. But the chances are that within a week or so we will have forgotten all about those wishes, and what is more, perhaps even from the moment of making them that we have overlooked the corollary of our wishes: our responsibility.

Good wishes should be the impulse that produces something more: good actions to bring our desires to fruition. Perhaps some of our wishes seem beyond our reach: it may be that we see no way to affect the health of our friends, or their prosperity. Nevertheless, if we do whatever we can to bring goodness into their lives, it will certainly have an effect.

Then arises the question: what is goodness? Life is so complex that what may be good one moment may be undesirable in another, and what is good for one person would be the opposite for another. Therefore, we need to work with wisdom, choosing what is appropriate for each person and each circumstance.

Hazrat Inayat Khan speaks of this in the following passage:
It is therefore that when a religious person makes a kind of law for action, the Sufi sees its impossibility. The standard of the Sufi is what he makes at every moment of his life; change for him is not a new thing; life changes, he changes. Every experience in life brings a new change with an inspiration which directs the action of the Sufi. If you say to a Sufi, “This does not agree with what you have spoken the day before yesterday”, he will say, “That was for the day before yesterday, this is for just now; for tomorrow I will speak to you tomorrow.” A fresh inspiration every moment, which Hafiz explains so beautifully in his first poem in his Divan, Mutrib khush… ”O singer of delightful voice, sing a song every moment new, new, fresh, fresh.”* What is necessary therefore in life is not only learning of goodness and fineness of manner, for that is only the alphabet, that is not the book. After learning that alphabet you must read the book of life and see the demands of every moment, what every moment in life demands of us, what every moment in life asks of us, and how to deal under different circumstances.

We need not be ruled by the calendar. Thinking of every moment as our New Year, let us work in whatever way seems good right now for the happiness of those around us. That is how dreams can come true.

*Some readers may have seen a short, black and white film of Pir-o-Murshid Musharaff Khan singing, in his gentle, melodious voice, this ghazal, repeating the refrain: ‘taza ba taza, naw ba naw’ – ‘new, new, fresh, fresh.’