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Happy New Year?

Writer's picture: Greg BarringerGreg Barringer

"No dark fate determines the future. We do.

Each day and each moment, we are able to create

and recreate our lives and the very quality of life on our planet.

This is the power we wield."  

~ The Dalai Lama & Archbishop Desmond Tutu

 

"I don't know where I'm going,

but I'm making great progress!"

~ Yogi G


2025 is underway! While we’re wishing each other a good new year and hoping for the best, I’m detecting many people I meet are approaching this year with considerable trepidation. It’s as though we want it to be good and happy but are quite unsure it will be!

 

Uncertainty is our constant companion, whether we like to admit it or not.  While we prefer predictable outcomes, especially favorable ones, things seldom work this way. The world and everything in it are constantly changing, and we have very little influence over most of it.

 

Fortunately, we do have some agency, in how we perceive and respond to the changing world. For myself, I’ve considered what I have control over and what don't, and have come up with four things I can do, every day, to make our lives a little better:

 

1) Limit Media Consumption. Remember, every snippet of media comes to us with a particular perspective and agenda, mostly intended to captivate and agitate our attention. The quality of our attention is our most precious resource; covet, protect, and develop it through meditation.

 

2) Find and Nurture Joy. Cultivate the activities that uplift us. It may be anything, and everyone is different; this is the beauty of being human. We may develop our skills and garner our resources in the service of beautiful things and activities. We can study, practice, and share them with others.

 

3) Be Kind. When coveted outcomes seem uncertain, we tend to get anxious. When we’re anxious we tend to respond from fear. When we respond from fear, we tend to be unkind to ourselves, others or both. Breathe into uncertainty. Know, in our hearts, that uncertainty is the truth of reality, while certainty is an egoic construct. Respond with humility, knowing that everyone is struggling.

 

4) Serve Others. When we’re anxious we tend to overly focus on ourselves. This creates a self-perpetuating loop of worry and anxiety over personal outcomes and ambitions. We tend to consume too much. It is not a happy making loop! Get out of ourselves. Discover ways, often they can be quite modest, to make other lives or our environment better. Make it a regular practice.

 

2025 will certainly be an interesting year. We can count on that! May we traverse it with as much consciousness, grace, kindness, and joy as we ourselves can create.

With love & peace & light

Always,

Greg

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