I know the new year is a great time for reflection. Self evaluation. However, that doesn't mean we can't do that any time. In fact, I believe these are important exercises to practice through out the whole year. Why not each month? Each week? Each day, even! If we are only evaluating once a year, we will not make it far and we are stunting progression. We as human beings need to be less harsh on our selves.
Many of us understand that people are not perfect. That people make mistakes and need time to grow, develop and change. However, we are so quick to judge ourselves and punish ourselves into thinking that we are incapable of change ourselves. That we will not succeed. That we are stupid and not valuable to this world. Why? Why do we do that? We are capable to forgive others but incapable of forgiving ourselves.
I myself struggle with these negative thoughts and skewed visions of myself. Much of the time, I am unable to see the fascinating qualities that others see in me. I can see good in others, but sometimes, admittedly, I cannot see good in myself. It is a tough trial for me. But, something I continue to work on.
My cousin posted that her word for 2019 is CREATE. I love that. I think we all could create more in the new year. Create positivity. Create love. Create forgiveness. Create joy. Create light. Create peace. Create fun. Create newness. Create change. Create motivation. Create you. As you can see, I am into the Create word. I think I will adopt it into my own life. I want to create more. More everything, that is good.
“...meaningful morning prayer is an important element in the spiritual creation of each day--and precedes the temporal creation or the actual execution of the day. Just as the temporal creation was linked to and a continuation of the spiritual creation, so meaningful morning and evening prayers are linked to and are a continuation of each other.”
- Elder Bednar, General Conference 2008, Pray Always
