New Day Resolutions for 2015 and Beyond

P3170179Well, here we are again. Time for ringing out the old, and ringing in the new. I hear many talking about 2014 and sounding eager to push it to the curb so that the ‘new’ can be welcomed, that clean slate feeling. You know the one. We hand off the torch, once again, and look to the future for the change we feel is needed so desperately in our lives and in the world today.

Setting new intentions for this next revolution around the sun without making necessary internal changes allows for the opportunity to convince ourselves that we’re actually leaving those old patterns and habits behind. We’re starting over. We’re getting things settled and making way for those new plans, projects, relationships, and actions we feel are missing from our lives. We’re going to do things in a different way next year. Hmmm. Really??

Maybe we are fooling ourselves. Fooling ourselves into believing that our past can be ignored so easily and effortlessly, like stepping through a portal and immediately seeing the fresh beginning that hasn’t been available before.

Because, the thing is, it’s always available. It’s available in every moment of our lives. Each new instant provides the opportunity to shift an attitude, remove a judgment, and begin to see the ways our old habits are holding us back and keeping us in the past. Every second holds a spark of potentiality for a new beginning. A beginning that leads us out of the place of despair, unworthiness, doubt, or fear and into a place of harmony, peace, contentment, community, and hope.

On this day, I propose something fresh, something truly life-changing that can help bring about the tranquility we seek. Instead of keeping the true change ‘out there, somewhere in the future’, let’s make a pledge this year to set New Day Resolutions. With the dawning of every day we have a chance to forgive, love, have gratitude, walk softly on the earth, be gentle with ourselves and others, live with integrity and impeccability, tell the truth, and be of service.

Every day we have the opportunity to hold ourselves to a higher standard, the same higher standard we are so quick to ask others to lift themselves to. Every day we have the option of using kind, well-chosen words, instead of spewing belittling, condescending, abusive remarks at or about the ‘other’. Every day we are given the option of responding with a loving heart, or reacting with the same violence we say we oppose.

Every day provides an opportunity to heal our own inner wounds that harbor anger, fear, abuse, violence, judgment, separation, and self-degradation. Every day we stand at a crossroads and make a choice. We either remain in that place that feels so familiar and comfortable, or we step outside our safety zone and learn something new about ourselves and our latent potential.

Will your choice be to continue to perpetuate your old patterns that no longer serve? Or will it be to embrace that past that simply holds your teachings, and make the necessary adjustments within your own heart that allow you to step into that Circle of ‘the ones we have been waiting for’?

It’s up to us.

“I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the years.” ~ Henry Moore

 

 

2 thoughts on “New Day Resolutions for 2015 and Beyond

  1. Ann Vise

    Thank you for helping me stop and contemplate what new beginnings can mean. This has been a year of changes in my life with the death of my mother and the birth of a grandson. Personally I have made a big change by staying on the paleo diet. Other new beginnings are more subtle and include things I struggle with daily such as trying to be more patient and kind. Who knows what this new year will bring? I am excited about the possibilities.

    Reply
    1. Ymani Simmons Post author

      You’re welcome. I have found it so helpful to focus on the many possibilities placed before us. It truly is endless. We are the ones who limit ourselves and our capabilities. We are the ones who can begin to paint something new on that blank canvas.

      Reply

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