As 2023 has come to a close and 2024 opened its doors, I’ve been giving consideration to what I want for this coming year. I know many people think about this as setting a New Year’s resolution, but as my friend Genevieve says, “That can be tricky.” If we’re not careful we can easily set a perfectionistic goal instead of one that’s doable. Because I too am a recovering perfectionist, this is something I want to avoid.
I’d been mulling this over when another friend, Suz, told me how she would answer this question. She said instead of focusing on a fixed goal she might ask herself, “For this new year, what needs do I have that continue to remain unmet?”
This got me thinking. What are my needs for the new year? What are the first steps? And how will I know when they’re met? For me, there’s a lot of flow, ease, and permission-giving in approaching the big question this way. So, I decided to give it a try, and I’d like to share my answers with you.
This year it’s clear that I need vitality, engagement, and connection with the beautiful intelligence that makes this world work. I want to learn so much about my interconnection with everything that makes our planet alive.
I also want to know more about my biome—my cells and other living organisms and their connection to each other and to me. I want to leave my mechanistic point of view about how my body works (to grow) and open my eyes to the ecosystem that makes me (awareness). I wish to live in greater respect, harmony, and mutuality with it all.
I know I won’t get to know all of it. But I can learn some new things. Here are the first steps I’m taking:
I’m planning on a large garden this summer focusing especially on building healthy living soil. I’m reading and doing some research to get started. I've also asked a friend for assistance.
I’m starting this year by taking a class to help me understand how the natural world is a place in which I can find comfort, reassurance, and connection.
This past year Michael and I have taken many baby steps to help my dogs find the calm they need. This year I’m choosing to find new ways to connect with them more deeply—through puzzles and games and an agility course that Michael and I are building. I’m just getting started and I’m having a ball. From them, I’ve already learned that energy is everything. 😊
I’m just beginning to realize that my body is its own ecosystem—that it’s filled with many different kinds of intelligences of which I have very little understanding. I am so curious about this. One area that has my attention is neuroscience (or what I can hope to understand about neuroscience).
Coincidentally, as I was musing about all of this, I saw a reference to a book that I had a long time ago called Molecules of Emotion. I remembered that I really liked it, so I found it on Thriftbooks, and now it’s sitting on my desk ready to be read again. I’m looking forward to that!
What would it be like to have my needs met for learning, connection, harmony, growth, mutuality, awareness, integrity, vitality, and engagement? Just thinking about it I feel delightfully curious, pleased, connected, stronger, and more alive; and I feel joyful knowing that these feelings will magnify as I learn and grow.
What about you? Send your thoughts my way: denise@compassionatecenter.org.
~ Denise
