Food For Thought Newsletter:
January 24th, 2023
Topic of the Month: New Beginnings
It’s that time of the year. The start of a New Year! Many a celebration… many a resolution… many an excited, yet nervous eye looking toward that inevitable truth that the future is now the present.
I think this is one of the reasons why we often make resolutions on or after the New Year Holiday. When we watch the Times Square Ball Drop… our human minds view each New Year as a potential, new beginning. This makes sense given that as a collective human community, we are entering in a literal, new era every 12 months.
All of this in a positive, goal-oriented mindset is wonderful, joyful thing. It can even lead to powerful psychological and spiritual experiences. At the same time, for many, as the days start go by… as we return to our jobs after vacation holiday… as we start to get those bill reminders… As we drive to work that day after the first bad day of work that always seems to happen before the first month of the year is even over… that joy, if it was even there to begin with, starts to fade. Then a month turns into a quarter… then we are at 6 months… then we are right back where we started. We are left wondering how in the world a year could pass by so quickly. And the process repeats.
For some, this can and does often make life feel like a never-ending cycle of not having enough time to accomplish our goals. By extension, this makes us feel that time is not human-friendly. The older we get, the faster the clock seems to spin. We then start to fear becoming older, abandoned, and bitter.
Yet, as the clock ticks… we can process time in such a way where it doesn’t feel like it is going too fast for us. The key is treating each day… each hour… each second as a new beginning. Basically, treating each day as a New Years Day.
By reaffirming our goals, and focusing on doing something each day towards them… even just a few minutes… you will see that time is gift for the human soul. It is a gift that we are given every second of every day. It is just a question of shifting our attitudes and taking action upon it. Our life is like an empty book that we have the responsibility to write and fill with our actions, thoughts, and decisions.
It is truly remarkable what the human mind and spirit can do, once it realizes its potential. Especially, when we view each year, each month, each day, each minute… as a new beginning. Every second we are breathing means that the hard present is becoming the past and the potential for a golden future is awaiting us. The secret to achieving that is a combination of patience, determination, self-awareness, positive relationships with others, and connection to the universe around us.
I hope any and all who read this newsletter walk away from it with the confidence that nothing is impossible. May this New Year of Life bless you with the confidence to make the changes, achieve the goals, and strengthen the love in your hearts! Remember, even if it seems like a hard year and/or the past few years have been hard… that hardship can be transformed into motivation to finally get out of whatever pit we feel stuck in.
Happy New Year to one and all!
Lynne Penn-Leon LCSW-C