New Year’s Resolutions

The Holiday season is upon us.  It is time to celebrate with family and friends, humming along to all the holiday songs with parties to attend and reflecting on what a good year it has been.  While the season is full of celebration and festivities, we look toward the New Year, too, in anticipation of what it holds in store for us.  I have thoroughly enjoyed 2022, which held milestones for me and my family on multiple levels to be thankful for, and anticipate 2023 will be a year full of joy and grace. 

I recently read a brief article from Pope Francis that I would like to share with you.  Whether you are religious, spiritual or none of the above, these tips for a happier life can apply to anyone. I am considering these tips as my New Year’s Resolutions to lead me into a more mindful 2023.

The Pope’s 10 Tips for a Happier Life

1. “Live and let live.” Everyone should be guided by this principle, he said, which has a similar expression in Rome with the saying, “Move forward and let others do the same.”
2. “Be giving of yourself to others.” People need to be open and generous toward others, he said, because “if you withdraw into yourself, you run the risk of becoming egocentric. And stagnant water becomes putrid.”
3. “Proceed calmly” in life. The pope, who used to teach high school literature, used an image from an Argentine novel by Ricardo Guiraldes, in which the protagonist — gaucho Don Segundo Sombra — looks back on how he lived his life.
4. A healthy sense of leisure. The Pope said “consumerism has brought us anxiety”, and told parents to set aside time to play with their children and turn off the TV when they sit down to eat. 
5. Sundays should be holidays. Workers should have Sundays off because “Sunday is for family,” he said. 
6. Find innovative ways to create dignified jobs for young people. “We need to be creative with young people. If they have no opportunities they will get into drugs and be more vulnerable to suicide,” he said.
7. Respect and take care of nature. Environmental degradation “is one of the biggest challenges we have,” he said. “I think a question that we’re not asking ourselves is: ‘Isn’t humanity committing suicide with this indiscriminate and tyrannical use of nature?’”
8. Stop being negative. “Needing to talk badly about others indicates low self-esteem. That means, ‘I feel so low that instead of picking myself up I have to cut others down,’” the Pope said. “Letting go of negative things quickly is healthy.”
9. Don’t proselytize; respect others’ beliefs. “We can inspire others through witness so that one grows together in communicating. But the worst thing of all is religious proselytism, which paralyzes: ‘I am talking with you in order to persuade you,’ No, each person dialogues, starting with his and her own identity. The church grows by attraction, not proselytizing,” the Pope said.
10. Work for peace. “We are living in a time of many wars,” he said, and “the call for peace must be shouted. Peace sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet, peace is always proactive” and dynamic.

If you focus on even one of these tips, you have made a step in the right direction and can celebrate a new year’s resolution worthy of your efforts. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year neighbors!