Author name: Peter Schulte

Here’s my invitation: For New Year’s this year, choose just one resolution. And instead of adding something new, make your resolution about letting go of some practice that drains, districts, or undermines you.

This, so they say, is the season of good cheer. We are all encouraged and perhaps even expected to be merry and light, tickled red and green with the spirit of Christmas. And yet, I know that for so many of us the holidays feel nothing like this.

If peace and satisfaction are truly what we are after, perhaps simple gratitude is our best path there.

The more I show up as the most authentic me, the more I will draw some people (“my” people) toward me, and the more I will inevitably turn others away.

Rather than objectively observing the world, we often bend, filter, and distort what we observe to confirm what we already (consciously or unconsciously) believe to be true.

Maybe I don’t have to be constantly striving and struggling to feel fulfilled or complete. Perhaps I can simply listen to the mysterious call of the universe within me and move myself toward it, without any need or expectation that I ever arrive.

I stand with anyone on any side working earnestly toward true peace and justice for all. And I feel lost because I’m not sure who that is or how to translate that into meaningful words or actions.

Perhaps a new life goal is starting to come online for me: to care a little less about my life goals, to just enjoy being here, to revel in those little flickers of joy, beauty, and wonder wherever I can find them.

What we consider our gifts are not really meant for us. We are just the middle man, the delivery mechanism. They are not just gifts to us. They are ultimately meant as gifts from us.