A wise man once said we don’t change our lives until it becomes clear we cannot go on until we do. The heart of a new-year resolution is the realization of the need to make a big change. The change can entail a new attitude, a new job, a new relationship, a new approach to an existing relationship, or a new lifestyle. It can include solving a problem we had avoided in the past such as problems with our health or difficulty taking on adult responsibilities. Every big change begins with the revelation we cannot function or move forward in our lives until we make that change.
The greatest revelation for me this year is personal, spiritual, and political. The events of 2020 had a profound impact on me. I spent many sleepless nights wondering how I could make a difference. The anguish stemmed from feeling powerless because the problems that need to be solved can only be solved collectively. Whatever I alone can do seems insufficient. I cannot fix the entire world. That requires all of us to work together on the same goals, but how can that happen if we are so divided on what needs to change and how? All I know is we cannot go on until we agree to make big changes, including changes to our values, priorities, lifestyles, and our government.
We need to make a major paradigm shift if we are to survive and thrive in 2021 and beyond because what goes on around us eventually has an impact on all of us, for better or worse. We impact each other because we are, like it or not, interdependent. None of us know everything or have all the skills we need to survive. We need each other. For example, I know nothing about fixing cars; therefore I need a mechanic whom I can trust. I could go on and on providing examples within normal daily life of how much we need each other, including needing someone to give us employment or, if we are self-employed, customers to keep us in business. All of us at some point in our lives need a doctor or a dentist we can trust. I’m sure if you stop to think about it, you will find many examples of the people you need to survive and thrive, including people in your professional and personal circles.
Another revelation for me comes from the people who have expressed heart-felt gratitude for the help they had received from me, and some of them surprised me. I had no idea that I had helped them in any way. For some, I had felt frustrated in my sense of powerlessness to help them, and all I could do was express empathy as I listened to their personal stories of hardships and traumatic experiences. Sometimes, I felt all I could do for them was pray, so I did, and I have been amazed by the power of prayer. Miracles happened. Whatever I had prayed for with all my heart was answered with a resounding, “yes,” nearly every time.
There had been a time in my youth when I felt prayer was useless, and I was critical of people like nuns and monks who spend most of their days praying. I thought they were avoiding the problems in the world, and they should have been out in the world working to solve the problems of poverty, bigotry, inequality, and so on. However, last year, when I felt so powerless and helpless, and all I could do was resort to prayer, I learned just how wrong I was. Prayer might be all we can do at times, but, it certainly does not equate to doing nothing. In fact, it might be more powerful than anything else we might do.
This revelation led to another about the relationship between prayer and the theory of the law of attraction. I have found that the more specific I am in my prayers, such as praying for specific individuals rather than praying for the world in general, the more my prayers are answered swiftly and with the exact outcomes for which I had prayed. For me, this is not only proof that prayer radically increases the odds of success but also proof in the theory of the law of attraction that states the more specific we are in our thoughts about what we want, the more likely we will get what we want. The law of attraction also states that when thoughts are backed up with trust and coupled with the joyful feeling of gratitude as though we have already received our wish, the probability of receiving exactly that wish
increases.
Despite the anguish I and others had endured in 2020, I am feeling grateful for all I have learned, and I am inspired to build on these spiritual lessons. My new-year resolution for 2021 is to apply these lessons to my daily life. I will trust that seeking will result in finding, and asking will result in receiving. I will pray consistently and regularly, including praying for help to be in a cheerful spirit, which is the fuel and motivation behind everything we accomplish. Joy is good medicine. I plan on carrying it with me everywhere.
Photo Credit: Jerry Wang
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