5 Resolutions To Keep In Mind For Spiritual Growth in 2019
1. Love With Intention
Make a habit to water the love you give yourself and others with grace. Love with an intention to heal, not to hurt. An intention to mend, not to break. An intention to leave an imprint of good wherever you decide to place your heart.
When you decide to love, you plant a seed that sprouts only out of what you water it with. Remember to not let your ego feed it when your grace has run out. Don’t feed it bitterness when you’re low on happiness. Feed it with the opposite of all the things you feel at your worst. Loving with intention means loving with no transgression.
2. Give More Than You Are Used To Receiving
Less is only more to some when they already have enough of what they want. Give and you shall receive, be it emotional support, a charitable act, or standing by someone’s side when there’s chaos. The way you choose to give yourself away is the way the world around you will kindly lend itself to you.
Society is a system of giving, and blessings circle back to you when we give without letting the promise of getting back affect the amount we choose to give. The places we invest our money and time in are where our hearts stay, and where they feed themselves too. Next time you find yourself putting money or time into something, ask yourself, “Is this what I want to be made up of? Represented by?” These are the places we subconsciously build character from.
3. Pray And Nourish Your Soul In Order to Help Others
When we are hungry or thirsty, our body makes sure we know. When we are hurting, why does our body sometimes go silent? When we feel alone, our soul can only cry out for aid on the inside. Nourish your soul by spending time with God, nature, and yourself.
You may believe that having a connection to God requires maximum effort, but the truth is we carry God within each one of us. We are like God, in the sense that he gives us the ability to harness our gifts so they become our purpose. He can only work from within us if we begin to do it ourselves first. The nourishment of one soul can fuel a thousand fires in the souls of those who are lost. It takes one person who is actively working on improving their heart to approach someone’s that may be breaking. Be that someone.
4. Walk, Don’t Run
When’s the last time you took the time to truly enjoy something in the moment? Doing a thousand small things throughout your day tires you. Instead, invest in taking time for 2-3 tasks in one day. Do them well, and admire your work after. See how much more you cherish the time it took to accomplish it. Use patience in every situation life brings you to this year. Adapt to being patient, and soon it will become a long-lasting virtue. A virtue isn’t necessarily given to you at birth — it can be habitually molded to who we want to be for ourselves.
To mold into who we have to be takes time, and a lot of it. Even when we think we have been patient enough, waiting longer is the best advice. Until you know you are ready to run, it is better to hold back than to leap without knowing where you might land. However, when you walk by faith and not by sight, the path becomes much clearer. Take the path of patience and never run out of faith that the plan is already laid out in front of you.
5. Choose Your Present Moments Wisely
Our pasts seem to hold most of what we blame ourselves for being accountable for. The darker it is, the longer it drags on. Aside from being open with our wounds in order to heal them, sit with your past and understand it to the point where you accept every single detail. Though it can be daunting to stare into the face of betrayal, selfishness, and choices we wish we didn’t make, the beauty comes within what each setback carries.
You might have spent so much time caring for the mistakes that no growth has sprouted from the real cause of them — growth. Once that is covered, start over. There is no shame in starting over every day of the year until you get it right. This time around, choose your decisions in the present moment wisely, for they are both your past and your future life combined. Our present moment foreshadows what we will hold ourselves accountable for later on.
5. You Are Still The Same You, Just With Newer Capabilities
The term “New Year, New Me” is often thrown around, but it lands in the same place every time. Our bad habits and trauma lead the way and dirt covers up the truths we hide from the people we love the most. Why? Though we might choose to start over every year, we are not perfect. Nor can we believe we are or ever will be. There can be no permanent “new” in the lives we have lived unless God intervenes.
This year do not put pressure on yourself to be new, but rather renew your abilities to be better. Build habits that are long-lasting, not short-lived. This is what to anticipate of the next 365 days: the ability to grow, the ability to heal, the ability to forgive. This new year is the same you, just with more capabilities. Take advantage of the challenge to reach new heights within you, because a new year deserves a test of your limits.