At the beginning of the year I usually put off making resolutions or doing any real soul searching. Part of it is I am lazy and another part thinks none of it matters. This year is very different than any other I’ve known! I have a kid to whom I get to impart wisdom and character to. I began thinking about the things that are really important to me. Things that when I follow closely in my own life I am happier for, and the people around me are happier for it too. In particular things that if my daughter learns early will hopefully help her through the hardest parts of growing up and give her a happy childhood. So without further ado, here are 9 things that deeply resonate within me:
- No one can help you unless you are willing to help yourself. Along with this is that no one can love you if you cannot love yourself.
- You should strive to always be a net positive to other people. In all relationships strive to make the other person feel good.
- You are never all alone. There is always someone out there that understands exactly what you’re going through – they probably have a web page even…
- Respect is earned and you begin to earn respect for yourself by being respectful to others.
- Never under any circumstance make someone feel bad about being themselves. We need the world to feel less restrained when it comes to individual expression.
- It is okay to feel angry/sad/blah/other “negative” emotion – we’re made to feel these things. Sometimes it means everything is working correctly. It is not, however, okay to take these feelings out on someone else.
- You should accept every apology and act as if you’ve forgotten the offense. There are many times this rule does not apply, but if this is not a repeat offender and they’re not being willfully malicious towards you: forgive and forget. In other times try to stay out of situations where the person would have to apologize to you.
- There is no reason to ever stop playing, growing and making.
- Seeing a problem clearly will often times present the answer. Applying this clarity of thought in other aspects of life will keep you focused and always moving forward.
These are core beliefs and guidelines for me. They are also things I feel most people would agree are true. Personally all of these have been reaffirmed with the birth of Sera. I never want her to feel weird or embarrassed because she’s just being herself. I want her to be happy and feel free to be herself especially when she is at home. Anyhow I needed to write these out. It helps me to have a clearer understanding of who I want to be. Hope everyone has had a good start to the new year.