Jan 1: Your Life on Purpose
Create a spiritual aspiration statement this year, not resolutions, for a purpose-driven life.
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The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead.
The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time.
All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!
—Edward Payson Powell, American Journalist and Author, 1833-1915
For my fourteenth birthday, I knelt and prayed for white go-go boots.
I pleaded, begged, and negotiated with a Santa Claus figure, demanding he grant my wish like a genie in a bottle.
Frustration and disappointment added to my disillusioned life when the boots didn’t arrive.
As I grew older, I tried vision boards, positive affirmations, and various self-help products promising wealth, health, and happiness. Yet none of these strategies worked.
The things I believed I needed remained out of reach, dissolving like sugar in the rain, convincing me happiness was an impossible dream.
My husband and I are watching the FX drama Trust about the Getty family, described as "the trials and triumphs of one of America's wealthiest and unhappiest families.”
The show highlights how all the money in the world—enough to buy millions of white go-go boots—doesn’t fill that hole in your heart.
It’s okay to want things in life. But real happiness doesn’t come from owning things or getting what we want. The more we try to fill an empty feeling, the more unhappy we become.
Why did I want white go-go boots? Why do you buy, consume, crave the things you do?
Discovering the true reason behind your desires can help you understand why you do what you do and what you want to experience.
I wanted to fit in with the popular girls, to be accepted. Had I understood what I needed to belong within myself, I could have avoided a lifetime of heartache.
But as the Turkish proverb says, “No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back.”
Once you know your spiritual aspiration and keep it front and center as a navigation tool, it’s easier to make choices and take actions that align with your true path.
Napoleon Hill said, “All success begins with definiteness of purpose and a clear picture in your mind of precisely what you want from life.”
So today, in honor of the new year, let’s determine our purpose and create a clear picture of what we want from life.
Your Life on Purpose Actions
As we step into this new year, let’s embrace intentional living.
Let’s not just dream but do.
Let’s not just hope but act.
Because realization doesn’t come from understanding alone—it comes from putting that understanding into practice.
Spiritual and self-help literature often promises transformation yet fails to deliver practical steps. How often have you read or watched spiritual content that leaves you unsure of what to do next?
The lack of concrete advice is frustrating and can lead to a never-ending cycle of seeking and searching without real progress.
We’re here to break that cycle.
Imagine wanting to plant a garden without knowing the steps to get there. It’s the same with personal growth and spirituality. It requires action.
You’re never left alone wondering what to do next. And it starts today, the beginning of the new year.
This week’s activity uses the story of Pompeii as an imaginative aid to discover what you value in life and why. It provides a powerful way to reflect and set intentions for the year ahead.