Half Year Resolutions

roamcare
24 hours ago
3 min read

Here we are, a week into the second half of the new year. How are you doing with your resolutions? Are you one of the many who gave up on those wishes of improvement thought about but not seriously considered some 189 days ago? Or are you one who was intentional with a major change in life and have found a new person within yourself?

We have tried to live our lives as we suggested in January 1’s post Resolve to Live, Love, Share. That is, “to start every new day inspired by the love that comes with being alive.”

Are you struggling to find the love that comes with being alive? It’s difficult times, uncertain times, dangerous times, but no more so that a random July morning in 1525. Then the average person was a peasant, fighting wars for the nobles, fighting diseases and often losing, or fighting the land for their existence. July 1525 marked the first documented transatlantic crossing with African slaves destined for the West Indies. The Inca empire was on the verge of collapse due to smallpox introduced by Europeans. And sill the world and her people are here, five hundred years later. How did they do it?

By 1525, the printing press, invented some 75 years earlier, was making inroads in spreading information and connecting people with other cultures and ideas. The Renaissance Period was in full bloom, sowing the seeds art, science, and literature that thrive today. Magellan’s expedition to circumnavigate the globe had just completed, forever linking the world’s populace.

If in the midst of all those changes then people found a way to welcome each day, we can find something to celebrate inspired by the love that comes with being alive today. In that New Years Day post, we suggested you find an upbeat song lyric to turn into your mantra for a day. In the February 19 post Life in the Slow Lane, Diem suggested we find love “in the quiet pauses: noticing sunlight streaming through a window, savoring a cup of tea, or letting ourselves take a deep breath.” We discussed centering strategies in Location, Location, Location that might leads you to a more relaxed and peaceful internal space to begin each day. In Positively Powerful, we reminded ourselves of the Dalai Lama’s words, "Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day."

The most positive days begin with the most positive thoughts. Joyful thoughts. Inspired thoughts. We have written several times that people define their own happiness and that happiness is a result of something. Joyfulness on the other hand comes from within. Yet, joy does not stay within us. We spread our joy. We share our joy. We make our joy part of our lives.

That is how you keep your resolutions. You make them inspired. You find something everyday that makes you start the day smiling inside and you work on that until the smile defines you. You make yourself joyous and wanting to be better.

We offer this exercise. According to “The World in Maps” website, there is one moment every year when nearly the entirety of the worldly population is in sunlight. “Every July 8th at precisely 11:15 UTC, about 99% of the world's people are experiencing sunlight. This happens thanks to the tilt of Earth's axis and the distribution of our population. Most people live in the Northern Hemisphere, where it's summer in July, bringing long days and widespread sunlight across vast regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. During this brief moment, only a few places remain in darkness: mainly remote parts of the Pacific Ocean, tiny corners of Australia, and small areas in western South America. It's astonishing how the sun can unite billions of us under its rays, even as we're scattered across continents and time zones.”

Imagine the idea that almost everyone you can speak with almost anywhere in the world, is sharing your sunlight. Now imagine those people all are decedent of the scrappy bunch of survivors who inhabited this world 500 years ago. We are truly connected. Proof that we have improved. Yes, even if you slipped a bit on this year’s resolutions. Proof that we can still be better. Resolve today to do so.