Meditations On The New Year

Christmas is about to be over. New Years coming up soon and I’m not typically a procrastinator.

Fact is, I rarely make any New Years resolutions. If I see something I need to change in my life, I examine what changes need to be made, plan and implement the changes as needed, any time of year.

This year, I see changes needed which just happen to coincide with the coming new year. This is less a list of resolutions than a list of life lessons learned which I need to meditate on and more fully assimilate. With some resolutions maybe thrown in.

Focus on now. For years, I have had a saying, “Learn from yesterday, plan for tomorrow, live for today.” Problem is, I’m not so good at living by the today part. I am really bad about deferring to later my own satisfaction. Even worse, I am bad about allowing others to defer my needs. Hence the next point-

Focus on me. I have a long history of focusing on things which benefit others too much and allowing myself to be denied too much for too long. I need to be more discerning and demanding for my own needs in the present. That doesn’t mean to not be empathetic but I seriously need to place more stringent limits.

Focus on present actions. This goes from the personal to the geosocial. Promises for the future mean nothing without actions in the present.

Focus on healthy emotions. People who insist on remaining driven by fear, anger and angst will remain driven by the same emotions and will prefer those…