This is something that I originally wrote and put together and shared with an email list at work. In the midst of celebrating and festivities of the new year I hope that you will not overlook this message and spend just a few minutes to give it read. I encourage you to print and spend a little more time with it as soon as you have the opportunity to do so. I am sure that it will be worth the time you give it.
Carpe Diem
Remember Yesterday, Hope for Tomorrow, Live Today!
As we prepare to move into another new year, I encourage you to join me on a journey that I believe will result in self-awareness and personal growth. For many years I have used the title and subtitle of this weeks goody in a sense as a moto in my teaching and writing. On this journey, I want us to tale a little deeper look at this simple phrase and to look at a few practical ways to apply it as we enter into the new year.
CARPE DIEM
Technically, it is translated from Latin and means “pluck the day.” However, it is actually a part of a longer injunction found in Horace’s “Odes” (1.11) – “carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.” Which literally translated means, “pluck the day, trusting as little as possible in the next one.” Thus, carpe diem has come to symbolize the entirety of the injunction and summarized as “Seize the Day.” So enough with the linguistics lesson, what does this mean in application for our lives day to day. This is where the other three phrases come in.
REMEMBER YESTERDAY
Take some time to look back and reflect on the last year. Rember the good, the bad and the ugly. Yes, some of these memories may be difficult and or painful. Yet, this time is not for stirring up guilt, shame and regret; it is for recalling the lessons these mistakes taught us and the growth that came out of them so that we do not repeat them moving forward. Even more importantly is reflecting on the victories, success and growth that we have experienced. To look back to see how different and better you are now than who you were. To recognize how much more like the person that you WANT to be you are. No matter how great or small the progress, Celebrate EVERY success. As you walk this part of journey, I encourage to have a pen and paper handy and to journal as you “process” your thoughts and emotions that are connected with the memories, both good and bad. Having “remembered”, now is the time to move on and turn eyes to where we are and where we are going.
HOPE FOR TOMORROW
I am sure that as we turn our attention to “tomorrow” and the future, you are thinking this is where he talks about New Years Resolutions. That is where you would be TOTALLY wrong. I am actually NOT a proponent of them. It has been my experience and that of what have in so many others, that resolutions seem to be more of a trap for failure and self- disappointment than they are for success in self-improvement. So, avoiding this process is my reasoning being opposed to them. However, he sets out on a journey without a destination is bound to wonder around in the wilderness and literally find himself in the middle of nowhere. If we are not utilizing resolutions to define our destination, ho can we do so? Let me offer an alternative – Goals Setting. Setting goals is not optional. We must have something that we are working towards. We can and should set goals in every area of our lives – relationships, career, education, social, spiritual, etc. Goals can be set at any time, but this just seems a perfect time to do so. That being said, goals need to meet some specific criterion. They need to be clear, specific, attainable, and have a time frame for completion. Deadlines are not for beating ourselves up over if we fail to meet them; they are to motivate us to actively pursue the goals that we have set. Now some longer-term goals may have several steps that need to be taken to achieve them. These smaller steps can be set as sub-goals under the long-term one. Like your path through the past, each goal and subgoal that you set in the different areas of your life WRITE THEM DOWN! This way you have them to refer back to as a motivator and encourager.
LIVE TODAY
That finally brings back to “Today” and this idea of Carpe Diem. To me there are two parts of this idea.
Firstly, having set our various goals in the step above, not one of them can be achieved if we do not take personal responsibility and the needed actions to move towards them. I know it is a silly example, but lets say my goal is to drink a cold soda that is currently in the refrigerator. That drink is not going to magically appear in my hand. I must take action to accomplish the goal – Get up, walk to the refrigerator, open the door, pick up the drink, open it, and FINALLY drink. NO goal will ever be achieved if we keep sitting on the couch. I have heard it said that “goals are not worth the paper they are written on if you are not taking action to move towards them.” Likewise it we have all heard it said, “Actions speak louder than words.” Each day is an opportunity for us to choose to take action and move towards our goals or to sit on the couch and do nothing. There WILL be challenges and obstacles along the path, with each one that we face and overcome we grow in strength and character and are more and more like the person that we want to be. So, to “Live Today” is to take action (steps) Today to work towards the goals (destinations) I want to achieve tomorrow.
That brings me to my final point. In the midst of the grind and struggle of the journey to achieve our goals, we must take time to enjoy the journey. As another old saying goes, we need to “stop and smell the roses.” If we do not stop, recognize, acknowledge and enjoy the simple and good things in our lives, we will burn out and having achieved any goal will never be completely fulfilling. This can be time spent with friends or family, a good book, a funny meme or video, or even something as simple as really good cup of coffee. When we practice gratitude it changes our perspective and the whole world seems a little brighter and better.
If we are going to remember Today when it is becomes Tomorrow, we must make memories that make it memorable. Make it a point to create positive ones.
I hope that taking this journey with me has you thinking and that as you move into the 2024, you will “Carpe Diem” as you “Remember Yesterday, Hope for Tomorrow and LIVE Today!”
Happy New Year
