BEGIN AGAIN, even if you’ve been here before

There’s a quiet kind of pain that comes from starting over, not for the first time, but for the fifth, the fifteenth, the fiftieth. You’ve tried before. You’ve fallen before. You’ve told yourself, “This time will be different,” only to end up right back where you started. And yet… here you are again. Standing at the edge of a beginning you’ve met before. Tired. Doubtful. But still, willing. That willingness? That’s everything.

1. The Buddhist wheel: cycles, not lines 

In Buddhism, life isn’t linear, it’s cyclical. The Wheel of Samsara teaches that we go through repeated cycles of birth, death, and rebirth. Each life, each lesson, is an invitation to rise again with deeper understanding.

Starting over isn’t regression. It’s an opportunity to return with more awareness. You’re not the same version of yourself that tried last time. You’ve been reshaped. As the Buddha said: “No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.”

2. The phoenix in ancient mythology: fire as fertile ground 

Across cultures, from Ancient Egypt to Greece to China, the phoenix rises from its own ashes. Not once. Repeatedly. Destruction isn’t the end; it’s part of the cycle. To rise again doesn’t mean you failed. It means you’re in conversation with your own transformation. Even burned ground can bloom. Even endings can carry fuel.

3. Japanese pottery and the art of kintsugi 

When pottery breaks in Japan, it isn’t thrown away. It’s repaired with gold lacquer, a practice called kintsugi, meaning “golden joinery.” The cracks are not hidden. They’re honored. The piece becomes more valuable for having been broken. Your history, your previous beginnings, your false starts, your scars, are not signs of weakness. They’re gold lines in your story. And beginning again only adds to their beauty.

4. The Hebrew concept of “Teshuva” 

In Jewish tradition, teshuva means “return.” It's not just about repentance, it’s about returning to your truest self. It holds that no matter how many times you fall short, you can always return. There’s grace in the repetition. Each attempt is sacred. Each restart is real.

5. You’re not back at the beginning, you’re back at the threshold When we begin again, it’s tempting to say, “I’m right back where I started.” But that’s not true. You are beginning from a higher perspective. From new knowledge. With more resilience. You’ve been refined by fire. By time. By experience. You don’t need to prove anything. You just need to move.

Modern growth insight: 

If you're tired of starting over, change the narrative: You're not starting over. You're continuing, deeper. You're beginning with wisdom, not just willpower. And beginnings born from experience are some of the strongest ones of all.

Challenge for the week: 

Think of one area where you feel like you “failed.” Write a letter, not of shame, but of return. Start with:

“This time, I begin with…” Fill in the rest. Then step forward, even if it’s shaky. Again. And again. And again.