As we head into the new year, I find myself reflecting on what I want to leave behind, take with me, and expand into this new journey…
Below I am sharing a little dose of inspiration for all the character builders out there who seek to make the most out of this experience called life. I hope you will find as much inspiration as I have within these words.
On Reflection
I love how Viktor Frankl so eloquently makes the case for reflection as the key to deep satisfaction in one’s life. Reflection is something that can be so hard to do in a fast-paced world. But with reflection comes the priceless gem of inner wisdom that we cannot get from the outside – only from within.
“The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest. What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him?
No, thank you,’ he will think. ‘Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, although these are things which cannot inspire envy.”
― Man’s Search for Meaning
On Patience
In our pandemic-ridden reality, patience is something that I feel like we need now more than ever. In my own life, too often I have seen that being impatient is the prerequisite to feelings of angst, worry, and overall dissatisfaction. I believe that the moments I exercise patience are actually the very moments I set myself free and experience growth in real-time.
“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present, you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.”
― Letters to a Young Poet
On Optimism
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
―
With social media, it may be difficult to imagine that we are all fighting our own battles – but it is the truth. Perspective and optimism however can shift the course of our thinking and improve our lives each step of the way, so that we too can join those who are looking at the stars. This upcoming year my resolutions include the hope that things will get better – for the better, collectively in our world.
Bonus: A OO Journal Prompt
For those of you who enjoy journaling, consider this exercise:
“What am I leaving behind in 2021?”
“What am I bringing along with me in this upcoming journey?”
And, “What will I be expanding within myself in 2022?”
Stay organically opulent,
Goldie W.
