January 1, 2011

Happy New Year...What Are Your Priorities This Year?

"Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes...how do measure, measure a year?", asks the opening song from the musical Rent.  Our new year's resolutions often focus on beginning a new year with better time managment skills, more effective prioritization of tasks and in general being more organized with our time.  Does this sound familiar?  If so, I invite you, at this beginning of a brand new year, to take a breath...and then read an email I received today from a colleague at University of Massachusetts/Boston.  It made me stop in my tracks and simply smile at the profound wisdom of a six-year-old:
"Here is a suggestion from my six-year-old daughter on how to start your TO DO list. Two of days ago, I wanted to teach her how to make a plan for the day so I asked her to bring me a notepad to write down what we would like to accomplish. She jumped quickly and brought a note that said “LOVE” and without even waiting for me to ask her anything, she said: “Mommy, I wrote the first item on the agenda” grinning from happiness. “Isn’t LOVE the most important anyway?”, she added.
As I watched her in awe, I noticed a change in my state of mind. “Yes, dear child, LOVE is the most important”, I said to her and thought to myself … “even if nothing else gets accomplished for the day but we share LOVE with each other the day would be quite successful”. We made a schedule for the day and moved on. Every time we were in disagreement we reminded each other “What was the first item on our Agenda?”
Put LOVE first in your daily/weekly/yearly TO DO list and simply enjoy the benefits it will bring to your life."
What incredible insight and what a good suggestion for the first item on the inevitable TO DO list(s) in our lives!  How will you measure your precious five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes this year? How about in LOVE.

Wishing you LOVE in the new year,
Pam

4 comments:

His Woman said...

This is ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!! Thank you for sharing this, Pam...
Wendy Williams

Pam Ressler said...

Thanks for your comment, Wendy. Wishing you a peaceful new year.

Rebecca said...

Adorable. I have a six year old daughter as well. They bring it right back to home that is for sure.
Rebecca Colantuoni

Jack Cain said...

I wonder how many people who read that story thought of Christianity. It has been my experience that many in the mindfulness world seem to agree with Gandi when he said, "I like your Christ. I don't like your Christians - they are so unlike your Christ". Out of all of the things that Christians are taught to do, the most important one - important as defined by the One who makes those definitions - is skipped or glossed over so often. I guess when you try to measure yourself to an impossible standard you end up falling back on the "at least I'm better than THEY are" part of human nature.

In Mattheww 22:37-40 Christ answers a lawyer (hey - getting a lawyer to keep quiet outta be proof of divinity...) when asked what the most important law was. He repied, "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your mind and the second is like unto it - love your neighbor as youself".

To answer the question from Rent - If you measured a year in the number of people you showed love to, how fast would time go by? It is amazing how much stress you shed when you are mindful not only of yourself and the needs of your body to reduce stress, but when you are just as mindful of others.