Resources for the New Year

Video: The Gift of a New Year

A Free Gift for ToDo Institute Members and Subscribers

Thirty Thousand Days:

A Special New Year Edition

Now available online

Download and print the Special New Year Edition...

 

The month of January was named after the Roman God Janus who had two faces – one looking backwards and one forwards.  That’s a valuable image for us as we end one year and begin another.  It’s an appropriate time for looking back (self-reflection) and looking forward (clarifying our purposes).  Most of us want to use the New Year to get a fresh start.  We consider making resolutions because we have a great desire to improve ourselves and the world around us.  Resolutions fail more often than not, but there is an absence of useful tools to help us navigate our passage into the next year of our life.

For the past 15 years the ToDo Institute has developed resources for self-reflection, purposeful living and mindfulness that can help you make the most of this annual transition.  We’ve now organized these resources into a special 14 page edition of Thirty Thousand Days.  If you’re a ToDo Institute member or a Thirty Thousand Days subscriber you can download this New Year edition right now.

 

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Here’s what is included:

 

A Haiku New Year

by Gregg Krech

A poetic inspiration for beginning the New Year in the Japanese haiku tradition. Read or print the entire essay and then use New Year’s day to write an original haiku poem in the tradition of Bassho, Issa, Shiki and others.

“It must be borne in mind that the tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal -- the tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.”
Benjamin Mays

Rethinking Goals and Resolutions for the New Year

by Trudy Boyle

“Find what you really care about and live a life that shows it.”
Kate Wolf

Last New Year's Eve, my spouse asked me what I wanted to get done in 2004. He wondered what I wanted to achieve, and what projects I wanted to start. It is a natural question as a New Year rolls around, yet my reaction was not what he expected. I said something like, "I want to do less not more." Considering all of the things I need to do in my life this struck him as an odd answer. Most of us have experienced that without focused direction we can easily fritter away our time and look back at a year when, as CS Lewis puts it, "not only did I not get done what I should have done but I didn't get done what I wanted to do either."

Ten Changes that will start you off on the right track for the New Year

by Gregg Krech

There is nothing particularly special about the beginning of January. We could just as easily make resolutions, set goals and reflect on our lives on any time of year. But psychologically it helps to have a point where one segment of our life comes to a close and a new segment begins. Here are ten ways to help you get off to a good start in the new year.

We Begin Again

A haiku by Issa in which he finds himself grateful for the food he has been blessed with this past year with a commentary on his poem and the lessons it offers for the new year.  The leads to a full two page spread filled with wonderful quotes from people like C.S. Lewis, Albert Schweitzer and Pema Chodron that are particularly inspiring for the beginning of the new year.

“We are born purpose-seeking creatures. Purpose is necessary for our very health and survival. If you doubt this, check out the rates of illness and death when people lose or give up their sense of purpose.”
Richard Leider

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Plus . . . Articles From the ToDo Institute’s Resource Library

Japanese Psychology and Purposeful Living

A Reflective Approach to Bringing in the New Year

The month of January was named after the Roman God Janus whose two faces looked forwards and backwards. Before you start making resolutions and goals for the new year, spend some time reflecting on this past year of your life using a Japanese method of Self-reflection called Naikan. This essay is excerpted from Gregg Krech’s award winning book, Naikan: Gratitude, Grace and the Japanese Art of Self-refelction (Stone Bridge Press).

Continue reading this article...

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Getting on Track: Setting Goals for the Year that Aren't Totally Self-Centered

by Gregg Krech

“It must be borne in mind that the tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal -- the tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.”
Benjamin Mays

In the workshops I conduct we often begin by having people introduce themselves to someone else and as part of that introduction share the three most important things they've accomplished during the past year. For some people this turns out to be a very depressing inquiry. They scan the past months searching for something important they've done but find that they have little to show for the past year beyond "survival." Indeed, some participants will actually say that "getting through the year" was a major accomplishment. Most of us would like to finish the year with some sense, in concrete terms, that we're further along the "road to a meaningful life" than we were last January.

Continue reading this article...

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Finding Your Purpose

Purpose gives meaning to our lives. Consider the people you know -- friends, family, acquaintances, and even people you’ve met only briefly. Who seems truly alive to you? Who inspires you? To whom do you go when your batteries need recharging? Are the people you admire, people whose lives are guided by purpose?

Continue reading this article...

The full text of this article is available to ToDo Institute members only.

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A Finger Pointing to the Moon (New Edition)

by Linda Anderson Krech and Gregg Krech

Excerpt

What Really Gives Your Life Meaning? (from page 35-36)

Most of the time we think about our lives from our own self-centered viewpoint. It requires a significant shift to consider our existence from the viewpoint of the world. It's a bit like viewing the existence of a single cell in the body from the standpoint of the entire body. A cell is born, has a purpose, and dies. The body depends on that cell to fulfill its purpose while it is part of the body.

When you die, you will leave behind some kind of legacy. Even if you spent your entire life, watching TV, you would leave behind a legacy. You would use up ?? kilowatts of electricity. You would consume ?? pounds of food and drink. You would use ?? gallons of water to flush the toilet. Of course, these items all involve your consumption of the world's resources. You haven't actually created anything yourself. You haven't done anything useful or meaningful with your time. The question isn't whether you will leave a legacy, but what will be the nature of your legacy? If you have children, they are part of your legacy. If you actually built a house, that is part of your legacy. If you wrote a book or planted a tree, they are part of your legacy.

So please take forty-five minutes and reflect on your legacy as you know it and also on how you hope it will be when your life is over. Write down your reflections on the next page.

Download A Finger Pointing to the Moon from our Online bookstore and use it to help you get a fresh start in the new year ($8 – Instant Download)

Continue this e-book here ...

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Learn More...

Getting Off to a Good Start to the New Year

Visit our on-line bookstore for books about purpose and living simply & wisely including:
• The Power of Purpose: Creating Meaning in Your Life and Work by Richard J. Leider
• The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs.

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“We fool our mind into thinking that there may be a tomorrow by wasting ourselves today.”
Yoshimoto Ishin

“This the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” to me. It is sort of a splendid torch that I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
George Bernard Shaw