Make Way - For 2024
What is your present view of 2024…Hopeful? Fearful? In limbo?
Every year we want the next year to be better. We hope for less loss, less suffering, less hardship, less illness, less bad news…that’s perfectly understandable. Yet the reality is that life is messy and we need to take the good with the bad, the easy with the not so easy and weave them into the fabric of our lives. To find meaning in the ups and downs and to choose what we need to do and how we will live in order to live our best life given our circumstances. And to not take on the problems of the world, especially when we have enough of our own.
How can we prepare for global bad news and unexpected events. Nothing can stop the horror and heartfelt sadness that we feel for others. We can pray, donate, volunteer and support folk that are connected to global situations. We might need to lessen our anxiety by reducing our input via TV, radio, social media and gossip, in order to create a calmer space to reflect and an opportunity to shift our focus onto the beauty of nature, the benefit of meditation, the comfort of our dear ones and other things that are life giving in our immediate world. What benefit is there in considering what you need and how you want to navigate the world news in 2024?
How can we prepare for the year ahead knowing that we or someone close to us has a difficult diagnosis, that we or someone we love has limited time, that our relationship is tenuous, that unresolved difficulties have followed us into this new year and that new ones might appear. Life is full of uncertainty and it is no surprise that we all have our struggles. Allowing our feelings, naming them, expressing them, sharing them, not fearing or fighting them can help us to feel more grounded, to gain support and overtime to choose how we will navigate our path and ultimately lead us to a calmer acceptance of our lot. Through openness we often gain understanding, empathy and the support that we need. It is ok to not be ok. And it is ok to let others know. This doesn’t change our outcomes necessarily but it is comforting to not be facing it alone.
Anticipating life in 2024, we need to accept that life is messy and that even though we don’t go looking for problems, they are in the mix of our lives whether we want them or not. That suffering is undeserved. It sucks! Thankfully, happiness is generated. Finding ways to lighten our burdens, to see beauty, to laugh and cry with others even in the midst of pain can be a source of happiness. We have the freedom to choose how we respond. And if needed, we have the opportunity to seek out help, professional or not to comfort and to further enable us to see the hope and hidden possibilities in our precious lives.
If you’re stuck?
Let’s talk!
