No, I am not going to talk about New Year resolutions. Not that they aren’t a good thing. Even though most do not check off 100% of their fine intentions come December 31, it’s an exercise that does help at some level. Kudos to those who preserve at this.
Rather, it’s reflecting how the arc of one’s life journey has been so far, and the progress towards one’s North Star(s). I will share two of such Stars.
Before getting to that, here’s my mechanism. I have created an xls that has tabs for each year. And in each tab, I outlined the core goals in my life, most of which are aligned to my North Stars. Some goals do reflect my human reality, e.g. centering on physical health. My goals stay fairly consistent year to year. What changes are the targets or milestones for that year.
If you journal a diary, then, consider scanning your writings/entries, and pulling out the key moments and experiences that you wish to build on for the New Year. You can always synthesize the micro into the macro, as there was an inner compass within you when you pulled out those key moments/experiences.
My first Star is my spiritual faith and discipleship. In 2018, I learnt that 100% Belief does not necessarily translate to 100% Trust, both being different sides of the Faith coin. And Trust is not just accepting that events occurred as God Willed or Allowed.
100% Trust means “I am ready to do whatever God asks of me.” 100% Trust means believing and sensing that God is always with me. 100% Trust means believing and accepting that God works all things together for my good.
Thus, in 2019, I will be working on that 100% Trust. It means looking at every moment, every event, every trigger, as an opportunity to discern what God asks of me, and to do it, with the conviction He is always with me and together, He and I can handle anything. A simple daily ‘get out of bed’ prayer is, “Lord, nothing will happen to me today that You and I together, cannot handle.”
My second Star centers on our adult children. It’s natural to de-emphasize parenting when adult children have left the nest and are living on their own. But we have experience, distance and wisdom born from scars that actually place us in positions to discern and provide that parental guidance, even to our adult children. As we evaluated each child’s life stage and circumstances, we could easily identify that one aspect that we as parents could assist our child in their journey in 2019. What a privilege to be able to continue this journey with our children.
There’s much to look forward to in 2019. We have a Holy Land and second Camino pilgrimage planned. We are going to re-connect with family far away. We are enjoying the new friendships. A toast to all our readers, that we live and love more deeply in 2019.
Journey Within 