12/29/2019 04:00 PM
Ignite the spark and start a personal revolution!
We know the turning of a new year is really more psychological than anything else. What, really, makes January 1st any different from the day before it? Isn’t the concept of a year manmade anyway?
Interestingly, it’s not. Both a day and year are determined by the movement of our earth in space. One, of course, has to do with rotation around an axis, the other with revolution around the sun.
(And, of course, a month results from the rotation of the moon around our earth. In reality, it’s only the actual measurement of time in seconds, minutes and hours, as well as the assignment of weeks, that is quite arbitrary. We could have made seconds twice as long and thus an hour two-times the length it is now. Just sayin’.)
On the eve of December 31st, our planet will have completed a full revolution around the sun. But, of course, we know the starting point actually is relative; we could have just as well begun the new year in March. But that’s not how it works.
At any rate, we know a year is a result of a revolution – and it’s on this point I want to build my case for the call, annually, for you to invite a revolution in your heart and mind to unfold.
Revolutions happen because people are not content with the status quo. And they are never random acts. That type of action borders on reckless and violent. Although a group of people may think they are carrying out a revolution by smashing stuff on the street and chanting out their demands – like the Yellow Vest protesters in France, for example – it is only through coordinated, intentional and sustained effort that change and lasting revolution arise.
In other words, revolution is a very intentional act. It is a consensus-building process towards a better way. A goal must be set. Steps to get to that goal must be developed and articulated. Without that, we simply descend into anarchy.
So, what does revolution have to do with me?
Good question.
I’m calling here for you to pursue revolution in your own heart, mind and life. To not remain content with the status quo. To dream big. To believe you have what is needed within you to bring about effective change in the future, both in your immediate life and in the world at large.
So yes, if you haven’t already, you need to take some time over these next few days to consider what your 2020 might look like.
Some will have done this already, and if you are one of these, I applaud you. Some, however, wait till the last minute. I get that as well. Please know – it’s not too late. There is time to make decisions and choices to benefit you now and into the future.
Doing so requires you to be still. To listen to your life. To reach deep within and ask yourself so clarifying questions: WHAT do I really want? HOW can I do things differently in the year ahead? And WHY will it matter?
There are many excellent assessment tools out there to do this. Two I recommend are Michael Hyatt's Lifescore Assessment and Life Skills that Matter's Personal Assessment.
You might greatly benefit from this quick, modernized Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment tool. (This site is worth exploring, by the way!) Remember: All these are guides, not definitive in their results. Learn from them, but don't be trapped by them.
More recently, I’ve been encouraged to work through these five assessment questions. It’s a simple matrix, and easy to work through if you set aside the time.
- What went well this year?
- What didn’t?
- What do I need to stop doing?
- What do I need to start doing?
- What do I need to keep doing?
This is all well and good. But I want to call you to make a decision – and a commitment – now to last you all of 2020 and beyond. It is simple but profound: Choose love.
Yes, I know. May seem elementary. But if you use the prism of this declaration, Choose Love, in every situation you find yourself in over the coming year, I guarantee you, it will change everything.
- Choose love – when you listen to, watch or read any news story.
- Choose love – when you are with a family member with whom you struggle.
- Choose love – even in the mundane moments of life, like when you’re taking out the trash or getting yourself ready in the morning.
- Choose love – when you are making decisions. Apply the filter of love to every single one.
Choose love over hate, over hurt, over anger, over self-righteousness, over defensiveness, over gloating.
Choose love, and you will find every single situation in your life – large and small – will begin to look different. And you will be happier as well.
Choose love, and you will be adding to the betterment of the world, contributing positively, being a light in the midst of a very dark place.
Choose love, and you will start a revolution – first in yourself, but also in the world.
It only takes a spark. Be that spark.
Happy New Year (and new decade)!