Happy new year! It’s still January after all. We’re still embracing new.
Most people have no problem embracing new – new things, especially. The new year brings about new things (rather, it’s Christmas that brought the new things, unless these are “regifts” or hand-me-downs). New year also brings about new experiences, which would be more reluctantly received because of the changes these entail. Unless these are new experiences by traveling!
And I could never say “no” to new books. 😀
The new year causes us to be more hopeful of the new possibilities that lurk in the corners of our lives. If we had a crappy 2018, we hang on to the likelihood that 2019 might be better. It’s as if our life begins again. We have a clean slate again.
I would really like that.
Except, my house is the same as last year. It’s still messy. Except, my children didn’t magically become more well-behaved than the previous year. They still fight over the same issues. Except, I didn’t change that much. Maybe I have more fats than before. Who’s checking the weighing scale anyway?
So, maybe instead of lusting after a new house, I’d be better off with a new mindset.
Practice gratitude everyday.
Even for small things, like a messy house. I am thankful we have a house to live in. Or my bickering children, which means my kids are assertive. Like my fats. I am thankful we have good food to eat.
The word that I chose last year was ‘appreciation‘. Most of my posts revolve around that theme. It helped me be more grateful. To not take many things for granted.
Let them go.
I admit I have difficulty getting rid of clutter. Maybe I’m too sentimental or I do not want to offend the giver, or I thought we may have use for it in the future. By and by, I must, if I do not want these to weigh down on our house and on my soul.
Weighing on my mind are negative things and negative people as well. These I ought to let go. I don’t want to fill my thoughts with them. I only get anxious and stressed.
Looking for something good in every moment, and being continually thankful for it frees up the head space from negative emotions.
In the process of letting go, you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself.
~Deepak Chopra
Embrace the new.
This doesn’t mean that I change overnight or “overyear”. It’s being open-minded and less judgmental. When I am embracing new, I also am embracing different, embracing better ideas about myself.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Now that I think of it, my word for the year 2019 will probably be ’embrace’.
How about you? Do you have a word for the year? Is there anything you wish to change this 2019?
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