Lay Led Sermons at UUCOB
New Year's Hope by Janice Lane
I love this quote from Mark Twain about New
Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your
regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can
begin paving hell with them as usual.
It’s natural at this time of the year to do some
reflection about what has happened during the past
year, and what the future will bring in the coming
year. As Mark Twain mentioned, we’re often very good
about making vows about what we’ll do differently or
better, but when we fall short, we seem to just give
up on all of them.
I challenge you today to begin thinking differently
about resolutions. I challenge you to start thinking
about new beginnings each day of your life. It seems
that we get stuck on traditions or what is expected
of us. New Year’s Day is traditionally the time to
begin anew, to do things better, to quit those bad
habits, to treat ourselves or others better, to make
time for someone special in your life. But then life
happens. The heat pump breaks down, the project at
work just got moved up to this week instead of 2
weeks from now, your child gets sick - life happens.
So the stress is such that you can’t start that
diet, go walking in the morning with your friend,
keep the date you made with your spouse - you get
the picture.
So what do most of us do? Throw up our hands and say
to ourselves “I don’t know why I make these
resolutions - I never seem to be able to keep them”
and then we start down that paved road to hell that
Mark Twain spoke about. We are our own worst
critics. It’s human nature to find the absolute
worst in ourselves, things that no one else would
see, and kick ourselves for what we did or didn’t
do. We are generally far harder on ourselves than we
are on anyone else in our lives.
When you think back on New Year’s resolutions you’ve
made in the past, how successful have they been?
Most of us have some success stories, but often set
goals that are unrealistic. But I think that setting
goals is what carries us forward in our lives. I
used to be the world’s worst about setting goals -
my philosophy was to just take life as it comes and
fly by the seat of your pants. I still do that in
some ways, but I now see the value in looking into
your own future to see what would make your life
better, easier, happier, or healthier.
The real challenge is to not give up. Alcoholics
Anonymous uses the strategy of one day at a time - I
also use this with my hypnotherapy clients that are
coming to change habits of any kind. Start each day
by saying - today I choose to do this in my
life. If that particular day you fail, then tomorrow
begins anew (or in the words of Scarlett O’Hara -
“tomorrow is another day”). We forget that it’s
really that basic. Every moment of every day is a
choice for us. We choose when to get up, when to
brush our teeth, what route to take to work, whether
to have a Big Mac or a salad for lunch, whether to
be optimistic or pessimistic. Many of these choices
are made unconsciously. The idea is to start making
all of your choices consciously. What and where we
are at this moment is the result of choices we have
made in the past. We do so many things
automatically, and our reactions seem to be
automatically triggered by people or circumstances,
that we forget they are choices, but they are.
In The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success,
author Deepak Chopra says, “When you make any choice
- any choice at all - you can ask yourself two
things: First of all, “What are the consequences of
this choice that I’m making?” In your heart you will
immediately know what these are. Secondly, “Will
this choice that I’m making now bring happiness to
me and to those around me?” If the answer is yes,
then go ahead with that choice. If the answer is no,
if that choice brings distress either to you or to
those around you, then don’t make that choice. It’s
as simple as that.”
Our very future is generated by the choices we make
in each moment of our lives. So start small with
this, don’t get overwhelmed with the thought of it.
Just start noticing the things you are making
choices about. With the goals you have thought about
and written down, start thinking about how the
choices you are making are affecting you reaching
that goal. Once you begin noticing, then it’s easier
to start making changes, a little at a time. New
beginnings each day.
I like this quote by Ellen Goodman, “We spend
January 1 walking through our lives, room by room,
drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be
patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we
ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not
looking for flaws, but for potential. “ We each have
the potential to be exactly what we want to be.
But let me suggest one more thing that might help us
to achieve our new beginnings - finding peace within
ourselves. Finding this peace within ourselves is
often the hardest thing to accomplish. Loving the
self, finding peace within the self. It’s easier to
ignore our own restless tides than to deal with
them. But until we do, we can’t truly send out the
ripples of hope and light to make the world a better
place to live in for ourselves and for everyone. We
have first find our own peace and light. How can we
do that? Here are a few suggestions:
- set aside some time for reflection on
a regular basis to get your bearings and see
where you’ve been and where you’re going. It’s
hard in our busy lives to do this, but I think
it’s absolutely essential for our well being;
- try and really love yourself - pay
attention to what your good attributes are and
try to positively change the ones that are
holding you back;
practice gratitude in your everyday life, it
brings peace to our lives to be able to count
our blessings;
- practice forgiveness - not only with
other people but with yourself. We’re often our
own worst critics and are much harder on
ourselves and our faults than other people are
on us. But if there is a conflict in your life,
just the act of forgiving the other person,
whether or not they reciprocate, can bring peace
to your own heart;
- take care of your health and your
body - it’s hard to find peace when there is
illness or disease. Do whatever you can to
rectify whatever health and wellness issues are
in your life;
- don’t forget to have fun - it’s hard
to be peaceful when life is so serious day in
and day out. Having fun should not be a luxury
but an integral part of your healthy life as
much as anything else;
- share yourself and your resources
with others. Serving others as a volunteer in
whatever cause is close to you, being a friend
to someone when they need it, things like that
bring love and peace into our lives;
- and finally, accept things in your
life as they are right now and be at peace with
them. That doesn’t mean you have to like
everything that’s going on, but whatever is
there is a culmination of events that led up to
your life being exactly where it’s at right now.
Bless those events and bless this part of your
life, and know that you can move beyond it and
make it better. Your own actions determine the
course of your life - you CAN bring your own
peace.
I’d like to ask you now to join me in a
meditation for peace. Use your imagination and try
to really see and feel the experience of peace as I
guide you through this.
GUIDED PEACE MEDITATION – close your eyes
and imagine the peace within each layer of our
existence, take your time:
Find peace within yourself – allow yourself
to be in this moment and feel the body settling
down and peace flowing in, feel it settle into
your bones and into every part of your body.
Allow yourself to feel totally at peace.
Find peace within your family and friends – any
conflicts, judgments, or negative feelings can
just float away as you imagine the feeling of
peace within those that are closest to you.
Find peace within our church community – imagine
that each time you walk through the door of this
building that you find total and complete peace
with all others who enter.
Find peace within our county – local politics no
longer exist, there are no issues between
neighbors that cannot be resolved.
Find peace within our state – from the mountains
to the seashore, all exist for the betterment of
each other, conflicts are resolved peaceably.
Find peace within our nation – imagine there is
no more inequality, no more hunger, no more
homelessness, only people working together to
make life better for all. Imagine our country
being an example to the world for peace.
Find peace within the planet Earth – imagine
peace in all countries, all oceans and land
masses, between all living beings including
animals and plants. Imagine no more hunger, no
more war, no more people or countries acting in
their own self interest. Imagine the whole of
our planet at peace with itself and all of it’s
inhabitants.
It’s in our imaginations – it can happen. Open
your eyes and return to the present moment.
Let there be peace on earth.
So be it.
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