As the new year starts, we reflect on the changes we want (or need) to make and resolve to “get it right” this year. Here’s hoping these suggestions challenge, encourage, sustain and help make 2010 your best year ever.
Three deceptively simple words were given to me by one of my teachers in high school: respond don’t react. Small words, big meaning; and worth remembering when inclined to act hastily in a way you may regret later. A response is well considered, with the long-term consequences in mind. A reaction is instinctive, rash and negative; it works against everyone’s interests.
Here’s some lengthier advice from Alexander Solzhenitsyn: “You have the right to arrange your own life under the blue sky and the hot sun, to get a drink of water, to stretch, and to travel wherever you like…. Do not pursue what is illusory – property and position – all that is gained at the expense of your nerves, decade after decade, and is confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life – don’t be afraid of misfortune and do not yearn after happiness; it is, after all, all the same. The bitter doesn’t last forever and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.
“Rub your eyes and purify your heart – and prize above all else in the world those who love you and wish you well. Do not hurt them or scold them and never part from any of them in anger; after all, you simply do not know, it might be your last act …”
Finally, a simple message from Mother Theresa; when asked to give people something they would remember, she answered: ‘Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family.’
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