Spiritually Literate New Year’s Resolutions

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

GUIDELINES FOR A NEW YEAR

1. I will live in the present moment. I will not obsess about the past or worry about the future. 
    
2. I will cultivate the art of making connections. I will pay attention to how my life is intimately related to all life on the planet. 
    
3. I will be thankful for all the blessings in my life. I will spell out my days with a grammar of gratitude. 
    
4. I will practice hospitality in a world where too often strangers are feared, enemies are hated, and the “other” is shunned. I will welcome guests and alien ideas with graciousness. 
    
5. I will seek liberty and justice for all. I will work for a free and a fair world. 
    
6. I will add to the planet’s fund of good will by practicing little acts of kindness, brief words of encouragement, and manifold expressions of courtesy. 
    
7. I will cultivate the skill of deep listening. I will remember that all things in the world want to be heard, as do the many voices inside me. 
    
8. I will practice reverence for life by seeing the sacred in, with, and under all things of the world. 
    
9. I will give up trying to hide, deny, or escape from my imperfections. I will listen to what my shadow side has to say to me. 
    
10. I will be willing to learn from the spiritual teachers all around me, however unlikely or unlike me they may be.

These resolutions were originally posted on Spirituality & Practice’s website. Click here for a high-resolution copy of the 2014 resolutions poster.