Day 364: The Value of New Year Resolutions

A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something.

Webster dictionary

I like the feeling that new beginnings conger up, setting new goals, and researching all that goes into the changes I want to make. Notice I say, want, to make, and not, should make. I’m taking a different approach this year. Rather than denying myself the things I enjoy, I will work on a more mindful practice of the positive things in my life.

I aspire to take The One A Day Values I wrote about and create a 365-day inspirational reading book. My long-term goal is to finish it by the end of the year. I can’t think of a better way to resolve to live a more positive, mindful 2022 than to continue to put into practice the things I’ve come to value in my life. And isn’t that what we need to do every day, practice the things we love the most. Practice makes perfect, and if I live by my values, then everything will fall into place because then I am living…by my truth.

Reflection: This New Year’s day is the first chapter of 2022. With 365-days to create the story of your dreams…make it a good one.

Day 353: The Value of Our Instincts

Instinct comes from the body’s reaction to life, and intuition comes from our souls’ experience. Bring them together, and how can you go wrong.

CFR

It’s interesting to note that there is a difference between instinct and intuition; they tend to be interchangeable. I see it, especially when looking at quotes.

“Instinct comes from the word instincts, or “impulse,” meaning it’s a biological tendency. It’s the transient reaction that happens in our bodies, apropos of right now *1.

“Intuition comes from the word intuitio, or, “consideration,” meaning it’s an accumulated belief. It’s the ongoing collection of experiences, apropos of everything up until now. *2”

I thought it was interesting too to find that Darwin’s observations nearly 130 years ago were that “sympathy is our strongest instinct.” We are instinctually programmed to be kind, loving, caring human beings. If this is indeed true, then we are instinctively born with the values we aspire to live by; And that means listening to our instincts is in keeping with the things we value most intuitively.

Reflection: It is inspiring to know that I can trust my instincts from my body’s point of view and my intuition from my soul beliefs. As I work at bringing my body and soul together as one, that’s when I feel the presence of God’s grace.

* 1, 2 https://nametagscott.medium.com/the-difference-between-instinct-and-intuition-254bb39d8e03

Day 362: The Value of Aspirations

There is no value in dreams if you can’t visualize them coming true. Our dreams come true through the stirring and value of our aspirations.

CFR

An aspiration is hope or ambition of achieving something. I can’t think of a better time than the end of the year to stop and reflect on our hopes, dreams, and aspirations. I’m not talking about setting goals here, although that’s a part of achieving our heart’s desires; our aspirations are more long-term. They are what we look at, visualize, and focus on to make those intentional dreams come true.

I like the idea of finding value in my aspirations as I begin the new year. It feels more life-giving to myself rather than concentrating on what I need to give up. I can focus on building upon the better good I want to create in my life. Maybe then the bad habits will go away naturally because I’ll feel good about what I am accomplishing.

Our aspirations are like building blocks that continue to build one upon the other. When we achieve one part of our dream, a new piece of it opens up for us, and it’s filled with new opportunities to grow into and experience. That truly is the beauty of life, but none of our dreams can come true without the work and effort we put into it.

Reflection: Our dreams cannot be achieved through a lack of effort. No one in this world can make your dreams come true. You alone know your true soul’s desire. Therefore only you can aspire to make those dreams come true.

If you would like to read an excellent article about aspirations, check out this attachment: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-aspirations-5200942

Day 361: The Value of Good News

Everyone has inside him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!

~Ann Frank

I was looking through the newspaper this morning, and we have an Opinion section every Monday called Good Things. It’s a day that Lancaster Newspaper takes a few moments to highlight good news. It is basically about validating people and the good things going on in our community. It’s refreshing and a wonderful reminder that there are still good things going on around us.

People do such wonderful things to help others in need, and those things usually get less noticed than when bad things happen. I was driving through Dunken donuts not long ago to get coffee, and the person ahead of me paid for it. I didn’t even know them. My husband could win the award for letting the most people into the lane of traffic as we drive around. But there is no such recognition for that. Paying for someone’s meal, sharing our books, magazines, even giving away things we no longer need to others, or simply validating the efforts, thoughts, and kindness of others creates a feeling of goodness in us.

I love Ann Franks’s quote above. “Everyone has a piece of good news inside them.” Life is not about the next bad thing that is about to happen or the latest conspiracy fear. Life is about discovering the good news within you, who you are and what you have to contribute to the better good of all. Finding that piece of good news within us begins with each new day.

Reflection: How will your piece of Good News read at the end of your day?

Day 358: The Value of Receiving

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”

~Maya Angelou

We talk a lot about how important it is to give to others, and to give without expecting anything in return is even better. The Bible teaches that “It’s better to give than receive.”Acts:20:35. I’m not here to argue with the word of God. I think we all understand the Bible is referring to those who selfishly expect with no intention of giving to others.

I never thought of it until now, but when I give from the heart, I can’t wait to see how the receiver opens that gift. It must be because when someone gives from the heart, I feel special to them. So, of course, I give with the same intention wanting the receiver to know how special they are to me. It’s not about the cost of the gift. It’s about the thought that goes into it.

Something else to consider is that it’s just as important for the receiver to accept our gifts as for the giver to give them. Have you ever been given a gift, and someone told you they didn’t want it? It’s hard to imagine someone doing that. In this respect, you can see how rejection is far more selfish than receiving. It takes just as much goodness to give as it does to receive graciously. I had to learn how to receive kind words from others because I didn’t think I was worthy of them. I had to learn how to accept others’ help when they offered, by remembering how much it meant to me to help them when they needed it. There are all kinds of ways we give and receive from each other.

Reflection: We give and receive; we receive and give. It’s how we keep filling each other’s cups back up, and that, my friends, is how the cycle of giving and receiving goes round and round. I call it goodness in motion.

Day 357: The Value of Christmas Past

When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things — not the great occasions — give off the greatest glow of happiness.”

~Bob Hope

When I was six years old, my parents went bankrupt, and we lost our new home. It was in a development and at the end of the road was a farm field—the farmhouse on the other side of the field was for rent, so that was where we moved. It was like going from riches to being poor, at least; that’s what I remember my mom saying.

It really wasn’t so bad for a kid. There was an enormous weeping willow tree my brother built a treehouse in. Sometimes he’d let me go in it. There was a barn where neighbors kept their two horses we couldn’t ride, but we could pet and give carrots, too. My dad raised chicks for the farmer next door, and we got to watch them hatch out of their eggs and hold their soft puffy yellow body in our hands. It was an old house that I could have loved if it wasn’t for the spiders that got inside it. My mom tried to teach me something good about spiders as we watched a big spider weave its web over a floodlight outside. I became mesmerized by how an ugly creepy spider could be so graceful and make such beautiful lace.

It must have been the first Christmas I couldn’t get to sleep. My siblings and I were worried that Santa wouldn’t know where we lived since we moved. My parents must have been in their thirties, and they put on a good show for us kids. While we were still in bed, we heard our parents talking to Santa and how happy we kids would be to know that he did indeed know how to find our family. Santa responded with a big jolly, ho ho ho! Merry Christmas and to all a good night!

Reflection: Do you ever wonder why, when times are rough, children have a way of being more creative, making fun with what they have, and discovering things for the first time? You learn to appreciate what you have. They were challenging years for our family, but the fondest years I remember because we made the best of what we had, and we did it together.

Day 356: The Value of Singing

Sing, sing a song

Sing out loud

Sing out strong

Sing, by The Carpenters

You want to know the value of singing? Well just to name a few things: “Singing exercises your heart, lungs, and releases endorphins making you feel good.” ~kismetry.com

* “Research has shown that singing can be good for you on many levels. It may help lower stress, boost immunity and lung function, enhance memory, improve mental health, and help you cope with physical and emotional pain.”

I remember an unfortunate experience I had once where I could not make sense of a conflicting situation I had just experienced. I felt hurt, confused, and betrayed. As I got in my car to head home, I needed to find a way to keep from crying. I turned my CD player, and Josh Groban was singing. I didn’t know what his words were expressing, but I knew how to sing along with him. His voice was strong and powerful full of feelings. I turned it up loud, and I sang along with him until I made it home.

I learned how powerful singing could be as I felt the same kind of relief I’ve gotten from shedding tears. Singing is much less messy, though, and makes us feel a little more energized. Maybe that’s because when we sing, we bring more extra oxygen into our bodies.

Reflection: There are so many things to value about singing, but don’t worry about the song or how you sound. Sing for you, sing to heal, sing to release, sing for fun, but most of all, sing because it makes you feel good.

https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-singing

Day 355: The Value of Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice

Nature remembers what we humans have forgotten:

Every cycle must return to stillness, silence, the dark;

Every out-breath requires an in-breath;

Every outer endeavor turns back inward of its origins, its center, and begins again.

From death comes new life, and from the darkest night, the new dawn is born.

from pathofshe.com

New life, new birth, new beginnings seem to be the subject in December. We have to get through the winters of our life repeatedly, just like nature teaches us. It’s our chance to sit in the stillness, the silence, even the darkness, and contemplate what we had learned from the days when the light shined upon us. What will we take with us into the new dawn of a new beginning? What will we leave behind for now? What will help us bloom, unfold and become the person we want to be?

Reflection: I pray that the dawn of the Winter Solstice chases your darkness away. May all your sorrow vanish and all your dreams come true. And may the promise of God’s light come shinny through for you.

Day 354: The Value of Renewal

“Every single cell in the human body replaces itself over a period of seven years. That means there’s not even the smallest part of you now that was part of you seven years ago.”

~Steven Hall, The Raw Shark Texts

Did you know that your cells listen to everything you say? Cells can’t think for themselves. They follow the direction of our thoughts. If we constantly tell ourselves we are stupid; we create a body that goes along with that belief. If we don’t positively renew our way of thinking, we will repeatedly renew those negative thoughts. *“Our thoughts can change everything, or they can see that everything remains the same. The goal is to be the consciousness behind those thoughts.”

With each new cell, we can rewire and renew ourselves for the better. Like new birth, it is a sign of new beginnings, and with conscious effort, we can create a new commitment to God, ourselves, and each other to build a better good in the world. The way I see it if my cells are so powerfully affected by my thoughts, then so will the world around me be.

Reflection: If I want to experience the better good that life has to offer me, it must begin with the renewal of my thoughts.

Day 353: The Value of Merriment Making

His little heart was so full of merriment that it could not hold it all, and it ran over into theirs.

~George MacDonald

Merriment making is creating lighthearted gaiety or fun-making. It creates a festive merry feeling with activities that are enjoyable and amusing. But how do that without getting stressed out over all there is to do to make it happen? How do we do that with all that is going on in our world? How do that when we are morning the loss of loved ones?

Some hints I found for keeping the merriment in our holidays are:

• First of all, it’s ok to feel stressed out with all you have to do and finalize. You are not alone. Most people experience a certain level of stress this time of year. There is also a lot of anxiety about the Covid pandemic and all the unanswered questions about what is safe and what isn’t as we anticipate getting together. So what can we do to help us through those stressful times? Get plenty of rest. Go for a walk, dance around the Christmas tree; exercise is excellent stress more manageable. Most of all, remember there’s nothing wrong with you. Stress is expected this time of year.
• Set realistic expectations for yourself. Everything does not have to be perfect. Do the best you can with what you have to work with, and remember to enjoy the process. Why else are you going to all this trouble if it isn’t because, underneath all the work, you enjoy what you’re trying to accomplish?
• Don’t hide from loss to spare other people’s feelings. Let others embrace you at this time. If you need to cry or talk, reach out to those you know you can lean on. Tom and I honor the family members who have gone before us by displaying their pictures. You can even add their photos to your tree. Sharing memories of Christmases’ past honors the lives of our loved ones.
• Establish boundaries. There is no place for political discussions or the world’s problems in merriment making. Think about what you are about to bring up and ask yourself how it adds to the better good of your happy celebration together.

Merriment is not just something to be practiced at Christmas time. Bringing joy, laughter, and livelihood into our lives is something we should practice every day. Because practice makes perfect, and the merriment overflows into others.

Reflection: Most importantly, remember the reason for the season. Jesus the child was born, and through his life example, he taught the way, the truth, and light…always pointing toward the joyful life we are called to experience, in, with, and through God, as One in each other.

I got most of my insights from the article below: https://www.toledoblade.com/b-partners/utmc/2021/12/13/What-to-do-when-the-merriment-runs-out-Coping-with-holiday-stress-and-anxiety/stories/20211209100