drum your message in 2011

Happy New Year everyone!

As we gently get into the New Year, I wish you all the best for this New Year – may this year bring all you wish and much more.

I wish you all a very peaceful, abundant and blissful New Year. May you have health, wealth and peace in your life.

And of course, as I said in my last post, may this year be when you become the sort of person you always wanted to be.

After a very enjoyable break of 10 days with family and friends, I am now back in full flow and have a number of key articles coming up shortly.

In the last few days, I have read a number of articles about making and keeping New Year resolutions and how to make 2011 a successful and happy year.

I have mixed thoughts about the value of making New Year resolutions. Though I do like the idea of setting goals at this time of the year, I also feel that a lot of people feel pressurised and then get upset when their resolutions soon fizzle out.

Having thought about what I think is really important, I would like to suggest 2 things for you to focus on this year and indeed any year.

1. Bring More Compassion into the World

Compassion is about putting yourself in the shoes of the other person and seeing the world from their perspective.

It is about feeling their pain and empowering them to be their best. It is not about pity or patronizing.

“Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike – each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.”Buddha

I strongly feel that it is high time we really questioned how we are living our lives and treating our fellow human beings and the planet.

In 2011, just how can we learn to treat each other with more kindness, care, consideration and dare I say it with love?

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.”Dalai Lama

How can we learn from the events of the last few years to bring more compassion into the world?

We all have deep within us this calling and a capacity to help others, to make a difference in some way and to make ourselves count.

However, service is not just about doing charity work, or even “looking good”. It is about creating something sustainable and leaving a legacy for those to follow.

Service is about empowering people and giving them their dignity.

So what’s stopping you from doing even more for the world? Are you fearful of changing the world?

Then feel the fear and change the world anyway!

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”Winston Churchill

2. Live with an Attitude of Gratitude

As we go into 2011, be aware of all the good things already in your life. Maybe you don’t even need to set any New Year resolutions!

Gratitude is all about appreciating the things you have in your life. Are you even aware of all the goodness in your life?

This year, make a promise to yourself to truly appreciate what you have in your life.

How often we take something for granted and then miss it as soon as it has gone. Many a time a loved one has left us, only for us to wish we had told them just how much they meant to us.

Gratitude is a way of reaching back to your natural state of happiness.

You get to notice what’s right instead of what’s wrong and begin to see every “problem” as an opportunity for growth and development.

Is your glass half full or half empty?

in 2011, I challenge you to begin to value all the goodness and beauty around you. This can be as majestic as a sunset or as simple as the feel of the clothes you wear.

Be thankful for a gift from a friend, a child’s smile, a stranger’s kindness, having got home safely today and simply to be alive.

The happiest people I know live with an attitude of gratitude.

The Way Forward in the New Year

So that’s it, my two key things for you to focus on in the New Year:-

1. Compassion

2. Gratitude

As an early gift for the New Year, I would like to end this post by sharing a beautiful YouTube video.

This video is a Hindu prayer and a wish for universal love, peace, prosperity and harmony for everyone irrespective of religion and location.

These are the words in English, translated from Sanskrit:-

Om.

May good befall all,
May there be peace for all,
May all be fit for perfection, and
May all experience that which is auspicious.
May all be happy.
May all be healthy.
May all experience what is good and let no one suffer

On that note, happy New Year everyone.

Top image courtesy of tanakawho