{"id":6514,"date":"2018-12-18T12:07:40","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T20:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saintj.com\/wp\/?p=6514"},"modified":"2018-12-18T12:07:40","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T20:07:40","slug":"i-resolve-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saintj.com\/wp\/i-resolve-to\/","title":{"rendered":"I Resolve To\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have never been a fan of New Year\u2019s resolutions, mostly because I make them and then I break them.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>quite been able to accomplish what, on January 1, seemed like such a great and noble idea.\u00a0 So at some point, I resolved to not make resolutions.\u00a0 However, I do believe that the human life is meant to evolve, and in order to evolve, one must look at their life and make intentional decisions about what and how to change for the better.<\/p>\n

Changing for the better goes deeper than surface adjustments such as losing weight or swearing off chocolate.\u00a0 Rather, it means shaping one\u2019s life to be more in line with the spiritual principles of empathy, generosity, gratitude, alleviation of suffering, patience, service to others and forgiveness.\u00a0 Marnie Hartmann, a parishioner who passed away last year, used to choose one word each year to live by.\u00a0 At her memorial service, her family passed out rocks with one of those words affixed to it.\u00a0 At my seat in the big church sits a rock named Perseverance.<\/p>\n

In her book, \u201cQuantum Wellness\u201d, Kathy Freston lays out \u201c8 Pillars of Wellness\u201d:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Meditation \u2013 take even five minutes a day to stop and be still and be silent.<\/li>\n
  2. Visualization \u2013 imagine a roadmap for where you want to go or who you want to be.<\/li>\n
  3. Conscious Eating \u2013 know from where your food comes, how it is produced, and the cost of your choices to both humans and animals.<\/li>\n
  4. Fun \u2013 build levity into your lives, find opportunities for laughter, and have fun!<\/li>\n
  5. Exercise \u2013 move your body for the sake of bringing it more alive.<\/li>\n
  6. Self Work \u2013 examine your life, be curious about how to be more authentically you.<\/li>\n
  7. Spiritual Work \u2013 seek messages of hope, healing, and peace for yourself and the world.<\/li>\n
  8. Service to Others \u2013 lend a hand for the sole purpose of being helpful and useful.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Freston points out that the effort need not be a massive change, but can be a \u201cleaning into\u201d each of these pillars, slowly integrating them into our lives a little at a time until one day, we realize we are naturally practicing each of these pillars and our lives are now more well than they had been.\u00a0 Freston also points out that in order to be fully awakened to the possibility of our lives, we must turn towards the darkness that is within us and in the world.\u00a0 We cannot make real change without seeing the need for real change.\u00a0 If we deny or ignore the darkness, then we will find no need or reason to cast the light.<\/p>\n

    The pillar that most resonates with me these days is number three, conscious eating.\u00a0 Ron and I changed to a plant-based diet almost two years ago.\u00a0 Initially, we did it for health reasons.\u00a0 Our doctor and nutritionist recommended eliminating meat and dairy in order to have optimal inner-health to stave off Ron\u2019s cancer from growing.\u00a0 We started by watching the documentary \u201cForks Over Knives\u201d (and I recommend this to everyone \u2013 it\u2019s on Netflix), and we made the change.\u00a0 While the motivation was health, I have become more and more aware of the darkness of the impact of animal production for food on the environment and on the sensate animals that are killed.\u00a0 With global warming at critical levels and with the increased evidence that animals encompass a full range of emotions, conscious eating has moved from simply a health decision to one also based on the desire to cast a light on the environment and my own ethical behavior.<\/p>\n

    Reducing or eliminating meat and possibly dairy from one\u2019s diet is a personal choice, but something I encourage everyone to consider.\u00a0 However, this is only one of the eight pillars suggested by Freston.\u00a0 On a wider scale, I encourage everyone to \u201clean-in\u201d to as many of these principles as possible.\u00a0 Lean into silence, into creating a picture of a life of wellness, into being aware of what you are eating, into laughing and playing more, into taking a walk today, into facing your sin, into turning towards God, into turning towards someone in need.<\/p>\n

    And in everything, seek the strength and courage of God to guide you along the way to a whole and healthy life.<\/p>\n

    ~Lori+<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I have never been a fan of New Year\u2019s resolutions, mostly because I make them and then I break them.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never\u00a0 quite been able to accomplish what, on January 1, seemed like such a great and noble idea.\u00a0 So at some point, I resolved to not make resolutions.\u00a0 However, I do believe that the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-window","ctfw-no-image"],"yoast_head":"\nI Resolve To\u2026 - St. James' Episcopal Church Fremont California<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/saintj.com\/wp\/i-resolve-to\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Resolve To\u2026 - 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