As I get older, I believe there are no bad years. Years of intense learning alternate with others that seem more like leisure, but none are unsatisfying.
There are no bad years — New Year’s Reflection
I firmly believe that valuing a year has more to do with our ability to love, forgive, laugh, learn new things and challenge our egos and attachments. Considering that both suffering and the dreaded failure are nothing more than opportunities to learn, we should not be afraid of either.
It is a great challenge for us to understand that our choices in life and the way we deal with things we do not want to depend solely on the development of our will. If I don’t like my life, I will have to figure out how to change it, but I have the power to do so with enough willpower.
Let’s not forget that being happy is a choice
With these criteria in mind, I asked myself what I had to do to create a successful year because we all strive to improve every day and realize that our purpose in life is to learn to love, make a difference and be happy.
We must work on those three things daily; the question is how and I believe three things back up these statements…
Cultivate love
Growing up loving responsibility is an example of development. Work, paid or unpaid, lifts the spirit and soul and benefits our mental health.
Today, being exhausted is considered a negative trait to be eliminated rather than a privilege because it indicates that we are giving our all. We came to this planet to be exhausted.
Respecting freedom
Know how to appreciate the freedom as a tool for self-improvement and realize that being free does not mean getting what I want. Maybe we should use our freedom to do what we should while we enjoy it and then declare that we are happily exhausted so we can love more and better.
Willpower
The third and final area for improvement is willpower, the wonderful ability to postpone what you want immediately in favor of what you want more.
As a nation and as a family, we should be kind to each other and treat each other with respect. We should also smile frequently throughout the day and greet each other in the elevator, as well as security guards and bus drivers. Appreciate each other.
Our homes have to smell like food, have spoiled or even stained cushions and have a certain level of clutter that indicates there is life in them to give us warmth.
We might even say that our homes are so perfect that it seems like no one could live in them, regardless of resources. Whatever our interpretation of the spiritual, let us try to develop it. Spiritual intelligence is necessary to transcend and give purpose to our actions.
Decrease the use of technology
Try to limit the use of technology and spend more time at home conversing, playing “traditional” games, spending time with family and hanging out with friends. Value closeness, warmth and love in our families.
If we manage to address these issues – and I promise to make an effort – we will have decided to be happy. This does not absolve us of our problems, but it helps us to realize that what determines whether someone is happy or not is not the problems they face, but their ATTITUDE in dealing with them.
It is said that joys grow when they are shared. With sorrows, however, the opposite is usually true. They shrink in size.
Perhaps what happens is that our hearts get bigger when we share. Moreover, a larger heart is better protected against the internal wounds of sorrows and is better able to enjoy joys.
With information from Mamerto Menapace
