Let’s make 2025 amazing! Are you on board for that? Would you like to have an amazing year? Would you like to have a year filled with happiness and fulfillment? Would you like to have a year of manifesting your highest life?
Last week we did an exercise where we wrote down what we were ready to let go of, what is no longer needed, to move into the new year in the highest way. Then we ripped up the paper and threw it away. Did you take back anything you let go of? If you did, you can let go of it again. That option is always available to you any day and any time. I do recommend letting go of what is no longer needed in order to make 2025 amazing. You can’t have amazing when you’re holding onto the past and what you no longer truly need. The Divine wants you to have an amazing 2025! So let it go!, let it go, let it go!
What is needed to manifest an amazing year in 2025 is to decide to make your spiritual life the center of your life.
Then everything else flows from that decision. You are a Divine being, made in the image and likeness of your Creator. There is a power for good that runs this universe, a power for good that created this manifest universe, and you can learn to cooperate with it. Then Divine Grace will permeate your life.
I do not mean that you need to join an organized religion in 2025, if that is not something that is meaningful to you. I do not mean that you need to follow the rules of a religion in 2025. What I am talking about is coming into contact with, and alignment with, your Soul. What I am talking about is living a Soul inspired and soul directed life.
If you are not making your spiritual life the center of your life, then you are living an ego driven life. The ego wants, wants, wants in the physical external world. The ego is not concerned about your eternal soul life. When you leave the physical body, the ego ceases to exist, so the ego wants to get the new car, the big house, the expensive clothes, the lavish meals out at a fancy restaurant, the dream vacation, endless wants, wants, wants. Now, there is nothing wrong with a nice car, home, clothes and meals, if the pursuit of them is not the focus of your life. The Bible, in Matthew 6:33, says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things shall be added to you.” Put your spiritual life first and the things you need in the world will be provided.
Are you a meditator? Do you have a daily practice of turning within to the Source of your Being in silence, listening for the Divine voice? Do you regularly experience the peace and joy that come from meditating? Are you able to quiet the thinking mind for a time to allow yourself to experience your True Self, your Soul, the self with the
capital S? This comes with regular meditation. The peace and joy of meditation extend into the rest of your life, creating a peaceful and joyful life for you even when you are not meditating.
One technique to assist in moving into the peace of meditation is to sit quietly, close your eyes, and focus on your breath, the coolness of the in-breath and the warmth of the out-breath, not trying to change your breath, just bringing your focus to experiencing every part of the breath. You can try feeling as if the breath is entering and exiting the center of the forehead to assist in bringing the energy higher. As you remain focused on your breath, you will feel your body start to relax. You may hear an inner sound, or you may see inner light. If you do, you can use these as a focus, holding your attention on the sound or the light, allowing yourself to rest in the peace of meditation. Once your mind is calm and focused you can just sit in the silence. Perhaps some insight or inspiration will be revealed to you in the silence.
Do you regularly pray? The purpose of prayer is to allow you to align yourself with your Creator, your Source of all that is. In prayer you are affirming that your Source provides all that you need in every moment, on time and in abundance. In prayer you are letting go of fear and acknowledging that, as a Divine Expression you have all that is part of the Divine. You acknowledge that you have perfect health and wholeness as a Divine Expression. You
acknowledge that you are held in Divine Love at all times and in all places. You let go of all fear & feelings of lack and allow the Good that your Source wants to give you to flow to you, unimpeded by the false feelings of lack and limitation. You acknowledge that your life is holy. You are a Divine Expression. How can you be anything other than Holy? How can you be anything other than perfect? How can you be anything other than blessed?
In order to make 2025 amazing, it is necessary to let go of anything you perceive as a past mistake. The past is past. You are a new being now, new in every moment. You have knowledge now that you did not have in the past. When you hold on to regrets, you hold yourself in bondage to the past and you do not allow yourself to move forward.
When you hold onto regrets you judge yourself now based on who you were then, preventing yourself from operating from who you are now. If you had known then what you know now, you might have made different decisions. But the decisions you think would have produced better results are a fantasy. You do not really know how different decisions would have turned out. You have an idealized version in your head of those different choices and roads you did not take. Those roads may have had many potholes that you do not know about.
Declare the life that you have now as good. See the blessings in the life you currently have. A gratitude journal is a recommended practice for creating a happy, amazing
life. Daily putting down in writing the blessings of that day allows you to tangibly see that your life is blessed. We can get so caught up in some irritation of the day, something that did not turn out the way we wanted, some unkind or mindless comment that someone made to us, something that we were not able to accomplish in that day, that we fail to see the blessings that were there amidst the frustrations. There are always things we can complain about, but what mindset does that put you in when you are complaining? Is it an amazing mindset? Complaining puts us in a negative, dissatisfied state of mind where we color our entire experience as negative. Writing down the blessings, the positive points of the day, allows us to re- focus to a positive, happy, amazing state of mind. It’s appreciating the little everyday ordinary blessings that makes a happy life.
It is easy to get caught in our frustrations. It takes awareness to turn our consciousness around. I experienced that this week when I spent many hours on hold on the Social Security phone line. I have an important task to accomplish. My husband, Rev Mark, passed away October 1st. His monthly Social Security is much higher than mine. My lawyer told me that Social Security was supposed to automatically change me to my husband’s allotment, but that did not happen.
I went on the Social Security website to try to find out what I need to do to change my allotment. I used the
search and I asked questions with the virtual assistant. I looked at the referenced articles, but none of them applied to my situation. I made an online account to gain access to all of my records. None of this yielded the information I needed. The solution presented online was to call the number for help, which is what I did next.
I have twice, on two different days, been on hold for more than 2 hours and never had my call answered. During the hold I had to listen to a recording, quite frequently telling me that I can go to the website to do what I need to do, as many people find they can do what they need to do from the comfort of their home or office. They also tell me over & over that they can share any information I give them with other government agencies under statute such and such, and I can refuse to give them my information, but then they may not be able to give me the services to which I am entitled.
Well, I have already tried going online, so this message became increasingly irritating as I listened to it for hours on hold. And I could not turn the sound off because then I would not know when an agent actually answered my call. Finally, after hours of this, I lost my composure and yelled at the recording, “I have already tried this. Would I be sitting here on hold listening to this irritating message over and over if I could have dealt with this online?” This was not a very effective strategy. I had yelled at a
recording, which did not hear me or even register my outrage, nor did it care!
I had now put myself in a very negative state of mind, which lasted for quite a while, as I talked myself into a calmer, more peaceful and reasonable state of mind. I needed to remind myself that I am a Divine being, supplied with all that I need. What is mine cannot be permanently withheld from me. This is a temporary situation. Each time that we react in this way to a situation we make ourselves more likely to react this way in the future. Our mind registers and stores this response, like a groove in a record album. Negative thinking creates negative results. We are creating exactly the opposite of the amazing life we want to have when we go through life reacting to what we perceive as negative situations, rather than acting from a calm state of mind, consciously choosing how we want to feel and experience life. A strategy to bring calm back when we have lost our calm is to pause and breathe slowly, breathing in slowly, pausing, and breathing out even more slowly, pausing again, and repeating this cycle of slow breathing until we are completely calm. We have the power to change our state of mind from negative to positive.
Rev Mark’s favorite saying was, “Positive thinking = positive results.” Positive thinking is what will create an amazing 2025! Imagine going into every situation in your life with the attitude that you will succeed because you
are a Divine Expression and God has your back. You are always connected to the Divine. You are never separate. You are never alone. You are always one with God, therefore your success is guaranteed if you keep your focus on God and the good that God wants to provide for you. It’s your job to avoid blocking your good from manifesting due to negative thinking. Assume the best.
Go into every situation expecting to succeed. If one thing doesn’t work, try something else.
Another thing that Rev Mark believed in deeply and practiced his entire life was helping others and giving back to God. He was a volunteer visiting elderly shut-ins, a lay counselor for people in crisis, a confirmation teacher, a group leader in a YMCA program with his daughters, a Deacon, and later a spiritual teacher, practitioner, and finally an ordained minister.
This week we had the services honoring the life of former President Jimmy Carter, an extraordinary person who deeply believed in helping others and serving humanity.
After his presidency, he had whole other life of service, building homes with Habitat for Humanity, serving as a broker of peace with leaders of other nations, teaching Sunday School in his 90s, and so much more. We are all connected. When we help others we are lifted up.
Consider becoming a volunteer if you are not currently volunteering. I found several organizations online that can help you connect with a volunteer opportunity that
interests you: VolunteerMatch is one. If you live in California, californiavolunteers.ca.gov allows you to put in your zip code & lists tons of volunteer opportunities in your area that run the gamut from tutoring kids and adults, hospice visitor, music therapy, horse therapy, food banks, and there was even one where you can volunteer to bake birthday cakes for foster kids & at-risk youth!
There are so many who could use your help, and in helping others you help to make your life amazing in 2025!
A friend of mine posted ways to have a good 2025 on Facebook, and her first suggestion is:
“As you go about your busy day, take a few moments to be aware of people around you; take the time to offer a compliment, start a conversation or ask if someone is ok.” This is another way to support others who are on this life journey in the physical realm with us.
She also suggests noticing when people are smiling about something; which will bring a smile to your face and it will pass on to the next observer. The physical act of smiling has been proven to make us feel happier. Smiling releases hormones in the brain, including dopamine and serotonin, which reduces stress. So, give each person you meet a smile and pass it on!
Her third suggestion is to “take a few moments each day to appreciate the beauty of our world. There is so much to see, smell, hear and touch and each moment will bring
you joy.” We really do live in an amazing world and we would be so inspired each day if we stopped to notice and appreciate it.
It’s what we focus on that determines our experience of life. What if you were to focus on appreciating the people and pets in your life, the beauty of the world, and your connection to the Divine every day of 2025? Wouldn’t that be an amazing year? So make 2025 amazing by centering your life in your daily spiritual practice, remembering you are a Divine expression, doing your daily gratitude practice, thinking positively and giving to others, and you will create an amazing life!
The great saint Paramahansa Yogananda said at his New Year’s Eve talk in 1934, “Make new determinations as to what you are going to do and what you are going to be in this next year. Set a program for yourself; carry it through, and you will find how much happier you will be.”
Live with conscious awareness of the way you are navigating your life and make 2025 amazing!
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