A new year often brings new words of self-motivation. Oftentimes, those words sound something like, “A new year, a new me!” From this mindset emerge list upon list of goals and resolutions that actually aren’t new, but rather look just like the ones from last year, and the year before, and the year before. Sadly, they also elicit the same results.
I’m not against New Year’s resolutions. In fact, I think they’re great. Where the problem lies, however, is in the motivation. Many of us are grasping at things that originate from our False Self, or our ego. We reinvent ourselves every year and set out on a journey to attain goals that have nothing to do with who we really are.
The start of a new year is a great milestone for reevaluation and new beginnings. I think it’s a great time to hit the reset button. But perhaps it’s time for a new approach.
What would it look like, instead of inventing a new self and creating goals based out of that False Self, we were to take some time and practice awareness? What if we were to do that which Advent teaches us and begin to see the light within? Then, from that discovery of our True Self, what might be different if we were to set goals and resolutions as we live in to who God created us to be rather than who we assume the world wants us to be? Might this year be different than years past? Might we experience a little more joy, serenity, contentment, congruence, mindfulness, and peace? Well, it never hurts to try.
Every journey begins with a single step. The journey of The Alchemist, Odysseus, and so many others that taught us that what we seek was always there. Instead of spending one more year or one more day searching for what God has already given you, I pray that this year you’ll gratefully receive your greatest gift - your best and truest self.
God’s Peace,
Brandyn