Pause and Light This New Year’s Weekend: It Will Change Your Life
There is not a single person undoubtedly who is not hoping for a better year ahead. This week in Times Square, emblematic of the spirit of the season, people observed the 15th anniversary of Good Riddance Day. It marked a time to write down bad memories from the last year and say goodbye. Perhaps the best visual representation of 2021 was the burning trash can in the middle of Times Square. “We are burning the negativity from the previous year,” one person said, most notably COVID.
We are all motivated to get rid of the past and start fresh. At the end of the year and beginning of the new year, we make commitments to lead better lives, deepen friendships, grow in health and spirit, learn more, volunteer and much more.
Yet, within a week of two, we wonder where the time went and why we have not actualized our plans and potential.
Yet, one of the greatest determinants of a meaningful year ahead is not what happens to us but how we approach the world around us. Life inevitably throws us challenges great and small.
What is the answer to avoiding this inevitable pitfall?
Pause and Light
This New Year’s eve coincides with the Jewish Sabbath. The Sabbath for thousands of years offers a respite from the hustle and bustle of life and inspires us to stop and reflect on who we are and who we aspire to be.
Imagine running a business or managing a stock portfolio and only analyzing the revenue and expenses annually. It would be foolish as we would not have the opportunity to evaluate our access and failures. We would not ensure that our day to day activities aligned with our values and mission.
Our lives are the greatest gift and each day offers a fleeting opportunity to create eternal impact.
This weekend, pause and light. Pause to reflect on your life’s mission. Take an hour of solitude to answer these three questions:
How do you want to be remembered?
What are your aspirations?
What are you grateful for?
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Secondly, light a candle tonight, New Year’s Eve. We cannot change the world until we change ourselves. Recommit to the vision of the Sabbath instill light into a world of darkness and hope in places of despair. We cannot change the world, but we can each change the world of one person and we change the world by changing ourselves. Learn about the Elijah Moment and commit to flooding the world with acts of kindness. https://www.facebook.com/elijahmoment.
Make this New Year’s weekend the first of many weekends to pause and light. Turn off the outside world to turn on your inner world. The Sabbath, to pause and light, will ignite your life and God willing serve as a personal guidepost and northern star to insure that we will not get caught up in the noise and hustle and bustle of everyday life. Use this time to get your soul and life purpose in alignment so you stay rooted and live your best life now.
Wishing you and your families a blessed, healthy and light filled year ahead of joy and eternal impact!