That is right, in 2016 move toward what you fear and embrace stress. It is only when you do this that you will be able to make 2016 your best year ever. Endless articles will come out about how to make this years resolutions stick or they will tell you to adjust expectations. What you aim for may or may not be what is right for you but you will never know if you don’t do anything. Now it is time to find out by doing something – anything, even, or especially if it scares you and or stresses you out. This is not a plan about how to be successful, but it is a plan to help you find your way.
As I write this it reminds me of one of the best things I got from going to Temple. I now consider myself an atheist Jew because I like how Judiasm commits to improving the community for all. To me many ideas in Judaism support the concept of paneugenesis in that it encourages interactions so everyone and everything benefits. Anyway, one of the best things I got from Temple was an introduction Jack Reimer’s Prayer, “We Cannot Merely Pray to You”. To me Jack is saying that we must do, not just hope. To me this is also what McGonigal, Crum and many other’s of science are saying when they give us reasons why we can and should act:
We cannot merely pray to you, O God, to end war;
For we know that You have made the world in a way
That we must find our own path to peace
Within ourselves and with our neighbors.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end starvation;
For You have already given us the resources
With which to feed the entire world,
If we would only use them wisely.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to root out prejudice;
For You have already given us eyes
With which to see the good in all people,
If we would only use them rightly.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end despair;
For You have already given us the power
To clear away slums and to give hope,
If we would only use our power justly.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end disease;
For You have already given us great minds
With which to search out cures and healing,
If we would only use them constructively.
Therefore we pray to You instead, O God,
For strength, determination and will power,
To do instead of just pray,
To become instead of merely to wish.
–Jack Riemer
To build on this, I strongly recommend you read Kelly McGonigal’s excellent book, The Upside of Stress: Why Stress is Good for you & How to Get Good At it! I thought it was so good that for the last night of Chanukah I gave my girls copies of her engage chapter and explained, “This will help you change your lives for the better.”
Then I was listening to NPR’s TED Radio hour. This radio hour was about 😱”What we Fear“😱 and I realized they were discussing the same thing as Kelly McGonigal – or how to embrace fear. Fear after all is just another form of stress. We all have heard FEAR explained as False Evidence Appearing Real or to do what we fear most to become a better person, etc.
I wish you all a great 2016. To help make 2016 great I encourage you to Listen Here to TED Radio Hour show, “What We Fear”. I believe from listening to this it will help you decide what you know need to do – today, not tomorrow. I look forward to hearing about how you are making 2016 a great year from which everyone and everything will benefit.
—
Craig Becker
Positive Health Leadership 