2012 Was A Tough Year
2012 was hard on our families, our communities, our country, our world, and our humanity. The list of all the things that happened this year is long. Things that broke us down and broke our hearts. Things like war, tragedies (natural and otherwise), economic declines, political self-centeredness, along with our own individual, personal calamities. I don’t have to go into the details of all that transpired this year because the news outlets will be playing all the stories for their New Year’s celebrations. However, I feel confident that the overall consensus of all the reports will be that 2012 was a very tough year for the world.
Though I didn’t personally experience war or tragedy or economic disasters, I suffered as I watched what has been going on around me – things happening to my brothers and sisters at home and around the globe. It has taken its toll on me. 2012 has impacted me in a huge way.
Interestingly, even though it has been a tough year, I am very encouraged and hopeful about this next new year. Why? Because….I think we are finally getting it. There is a shift in the collective awareness of the world. I see glimpses of it. I hear sincere and serious conversations about what we need to be doing and focusing on for a new world. (Check out the work of Barbara Marx Hubbard’s Foundation for Conscious Evolution.) Because the losses have been so tremendous, the grief so deep, the greed and waste so blatant, the arrogance so unfathomable and unwarranted, and the meanness and craziness so over-the-top, I believe we are finally waking up to the undeniable fact that WE NEED TO CHANGE.
Isn’t that what New Year’s resolutions are all about – the promise of change? Usually our New Year’s resolutions are about what we want to change in our personal lives – things like a new job with more money, or better health and fitness. Maybe we resolve to spend less and save more. Maybe we decide to be better to our partners and family.
This year, however, my New Year’s resolutions are about what I want for humanity, for our world, our planet. This year it’s not about what I want for me – personally.
Or isn’t it?
Isn’t what we want for ourselves the very things we should be wanting for everyone? Things like more jobs and money for all. Better health and healthcare for all. To be kinder and more compassionate to everyone. Maybe it’s not that the resolutions or the dreams need to change, maybe it’s just that our resolutions need to become more expansive and inclusive.
We are finally realizing that we are not in this alone. We are all deeply affected by what’s going on everywhere, with everyone. When one woman dies from a gang rape on a bus in India, it affects all women. When children and other innocent people are randomly massacred by mentally ill people with guns or governments with militaries, we are each threatened. When the unstable economy of countries we’ve never even been to begin to crumble, we all become insecure. When the people we have elected to represent us serve their own well-being and re-elections over the good of all, none of us are protected.
So this year, when we make our resolutions for what’s next in our lives, for what we want to dedicate ourselves to, I suggest that we think about what we want for all.
This year is not about what I want for myself. It’s not about “me”, it’s about “we”. It’s about what I want for our world. (Though interestingly, they are the same things.) I want abundance for all. I want good health for all. I want safety and security and the promise of a bright future for all. This year I will resolve to do what is right and good for all, not just for my own life.
This will be the year dedicated to loving my neighbors, caring for those in need, sharing my wealth and good fortune, and doing the hard things because they are the right things to do. This year I resolve to work tirelessly towards peace and non-violence everywhere.
I resolve to make 2013 the year of “US”. I pray that 2013 will be the year that we decide to finally come together and make this world a better place for everyone.
Powerful Questions:
What are your New Year’s resolutions?
What’s your New Year’s prayer for our. World?
Happy New Year Everyone!
Peace, Love and Abundance for All!
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