Say Hello to the Ghost of New Year's Past, and Say Goodbye to Your Old Ways of Life
New Year's Day 2011. This is a day to rejoice, and yet many of us will spend it stuck in our usual patterns of behavior. We'll complain about the weather, about our messy house or about the fact that our favorite team got cheated out of their bowl game victory. But before we get too deep in negativity this morning, let's paint a little scenario...
Last night, on New Year's Eve 2010, the Ghost of New Year's Past appeared to you as you were finishing off the last of the champagne. The Ghost's purpose was to tell you that the first day of 2011 would also be your last day on earth. Initially, you thought it was the liquor that was fueling the apparition, but this morning you realize it wasn't just an optical illusion. The ghost was real and today is your last day of physical life.
After the initial shock begins to wear-off, you're faced with a huge question: How am I going to live this last day? Am I going to spend it like I've spent so many other days-- taking life for granted, complaining about the smallest things, being bitterly angry with a family member who I haven't talked to in ages, exchanging gossip, or vegging in front of the TV? Am I going to live this last day by habit, am I going to mope on my pity pot, or am I finally going to take charge of my life in these last hours?
If any of us had really received a visit from the Ghost of New Year's Past, I doubt that we'd live this final day by routine. We'd realize how futile it is to gripe about anything. We'd understand that wasting hours in adoration of the TV is insanity. And we'd surely wake-up to the fact that holding grudges against anyone has been a total waste of our time-- a time that could have been well spent in love and laughter and emotional warmth.
Well, today may or may not be the last day for any of us, but maybe we should live today and every day of this New Year as if it were the last day. We need to stop taking life for granted. We need to stop focusing on the bad stuff. And we need to value all of our relations and relationships because they are all that really matters in the world. You see, when our last day really does come, all we take with us to the next world is ourselves. And all we have in the next world is the sacredness of personal relationships-- with God, ourselves and others.
So on this first day of 2011, let's make this the last day for our old ways of thinking and living. Let's say goodbye to all the old bad habits we've developed and clung to like crutches. And let's live this year mindfully, in the present moment, making amends where we need to and living life to the fullest by enjoying our most sacred of relationships. In living every moment we have with positive energy and great enthusiasm for the gift of life, we will allow our souls to shine throughout 2011 and beyond!
Last night, on New Year's Eve 2010, the Ghost of New Year's Past appeared to you as you were finishing off the last of the champagne. The Ghost's purpose was to tell you that the first day of 2011 would also be your last day on earth. Initially, you thought it was the liquor that was fueling the apparition, but this morning you realize it wasn't just an optical illusion. The ghost was real and today is your last day of physical life.
After the initial shock begins to wear-off, you're faced with a huge question: How am I going to live this last day? Am I going to spend it like I've spent so many other days-- taking life for granted, complaining about the smallest things, being bitterly angry with a family member who I haven't talked to in ages, exchanging gossip, or vegging in front of the TV? Am I going to live this last day by habit, am I going to mope on my pity pot, or am I finally going to take charge of my life in these last hours?
If any of us had really received a visit from the Ghost of New Year's Past, I doubt that we'd live this final day by routine. We'd realize how futile it is to gripe about anything. We'd understand that wasting hours in adoration of the TV is insanity. And we'd surely wake-up to the fact that holding grudges against anyone has been a total waste of our time-- a time that could have been well spent in love and laughter and emotional warmth.
Well, today may or may not be the last day for any of us, but maybe we should live today and every day of this New Year as if it were the last day. We need to stop taking life for granted. We need to stop focusing on the bad stuff. And we need to value all of our relations and relationships because they are all that really matters in the world. You see, when our last day really does come, all we take with us to the next world is ourselves. And all we have in the next world is the sacredness of personal relationships-- with God, ourselves and others.
So on this first day of 2011, let's make this the last day for our old ways of thinking and living. Let's say goodbye to all the old bad habits we've developed and clung to like crutches. And let's live this year mindfully, in the present moment, making amends where we need to and living life to the fullest by enjoying our most sacred of relationships. In living every moment we have with positive energy and great enthusiasm for the gift of life, we will allow our souls to shine throughout 2011 and beyond!
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