Speaker 1: What is up everybody?
Speaker 1: Ryan here and I am in Mike's Beats Laboratory, aka Mike Lauer's office.
Speaker 1: What's up, mike Living the dream?
Speaker 1: Mike's always living the dream.
Speaker 1: Hey, it's New Year, it's New Year's, it's a new year, so happy New Year's everybody.
Speaker 1: And actually, where we are it's actually still November, but when we broadcast this and send it to the internet it'll be New Year's.
Speaker 1: So when you're hearing it, it should be New Year's.
Speaker 1: So I want to talk quickly about a practice that I have every New Year's and then also say a few things about New Year's resolutions.
Speaker 1: I'm not anti-resolutions, but I think you've got to keep a couple things in mind.
Speaker 1: But first, a practice that I have that I began to do a couple years ago.
Speaker 1: It's actually this ancient practice by St Ignatius.
Speaker 1: He did this with his order and they call it the daily examin', but I do it a yearly examin', and here's how it works Every year around the first of the year, I will sit down for an hour or longer, or you can even do it shorter.
Speaker 1: Just whatever time you have, just do it and bring a calendar, look over your whole calendar from last January to this January and just notice all the things you did this last year and sort of give them acknowledgement and then also look at them with gratitude.
Speaker 1: So just notice all the gifts you were given this whole last year, and both large and small.
Speaker 1: So it could have been like the visit of a friend.
Speaker 1: Maybe you went to the Nutcracker like I did for Christmas.
Speaker 1: Maybe you just enjoyed a nice day at the lake this past summer with your kids or your wife or your husband or whatever.
Speaker 1: But notice all those things and doing so kind of just creates more gratitude in your heart, even in the moment.
Speaker 1: But look over your whole year with your calendar at hand and notice all the things you did and then also just the things that you're really grateful for, and you just give thanks to God for those things.
Speaker 1: And then look more specifically for two things in particular One, the moment or the day or the thing that you're the most grateful for, like so what was it of all the things you did this last year?
Speaker 1: What was the one moment where you felt just fully alive?
Speaker 1: Or if you could go back and relive that moment, what would that moment be?
Speaker 1: Where did you feel, maybe like, most fully yourself, maybe most in tune with the divine, or like you were able to give or receive love or hospitality the most.
Speaker 1: What was that one moment?
Speaker 1: And then write it down.
Speaker 1: And then also, as you're examining your whole year, looking over with gratitude, noticing all the things you did, after you've picked out your one most grateful for a grateful for a moment.
Speaker 1: What was the moment that you're the least grateful for?
Speaker 1: So, maybe the moment that you would not want to relive, maybe a moment that brought some tension or pressure, where you felt out of tune or out of sync with, like your own self or with God, maybe you were going the wrong direction in life or whatever, and then write that one down as well.
Speaker 1: So now you got two moments your most grateful for, your least grateful for.
Speaker 1: You've kind of given thanks to God for all the other things that happened that year and then ask yourself, why, why are these your, why I was at your most grateful moment and why was it your least grateful moment?
Speaker 1: And really ask like why?
Speaker 1: What was it about those moments that you're grateful for and what was it about those moments that you're least?
Speaker 1: You know that you're not grateful for, and if you do that, I think you'll begin to understand a little bit more about yourself and kind of how God has wired you and also, if you're able to do this every day or week, you can really begin to see some trends.
Speaker 1: But also, google daily examine and examine is ex a, m e?
Speaker 1: N, and you'll find that you know the the sort of steps to do this, but and so keep a journal and you'll look back over the next you know several years and you can see if there are any trends there as well.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's called the, the daily examine, but you're going to do it every year.
Speaker 1: Now to resolutions.
Speaker 1: Now, a lot of people make New Year's resolutions or they're like the anti resolution people, which I get as well and the problem is a lot of us do them and then fail to see them through.
Speaker 1: But here's what I want to say about resolutions I think they're great, I like doing them.
Speaker 1: I don't like make too many, because here's my one piece of advice.
Speaker 1: This is advice now, and my advice would be this you know, maybe, as you think and reflect over your year, if you've done the examine or not.
Speaker 1: Either way, you know, just think back.
Speaker 1: What are the couple of things that you want to do to kind of set yourself in the path to go the right direction again.
Speaker 1: Whatever, maybe you want to go to the gym, start eating a bit healthier, maybe you want to, you know, be kinder to your mom, whatever.
Speaker 1: But here's the advice I have Start really small, like almost ridiculously small, and just write down like what's the bare minimum you could do to make some progress in this area.
Speaker 1: So it's the gym, fine, but let's just say, hey, I want to.
Speaker 1: My plan is to go to the gym one day a week and, you know, walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes and then go home and celebrate that one time you did it and then next week go back and do it again.
Speaker 1: The problem is, when we go there like I'm gonna go to the gym every day for four hours and bench press 400 pounds, and then, of course, you go there and you don't do any of those things, you feel guilty and condemned and like a total loser and you never go back.
Speaker 1: Instead, start very small.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gonna just write my mom a letter, a short one, just to say hi, I'm gonna mail it to her or I'm gonna.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start by eating like one healthy meal a week and I get it.
Speaker 1: It's small, almost insignificant.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing when you do it you will feel better about yourself just almost immediately, and it creates a sense of like you know, like, oh, this is good, I'm making progress, and celebrate that victory or that win and then do it again, and just do it again and keep going.
Speaker 1: The trick is to not stop but set the bar low and then keep going and before you know it you'll begin to feel like extra motivation and inspiration to kind of keep going.
Speaker 1: So I think, do them, do resolutions, but start really small and just inch right forward and celebrate those like minute, small, almost insignificant victories.
Speaker 1: It's like remember those old transparencies, like the overhead projectors back in the day, like a hundred years ago when we were in elementary school.
Speaker 1: And if you put one transparency up in that projector you can't really see it, and that's what you're doing.
Speaker 1: But if you put like 50 of those on there, you begin to see, oh, there's something, you know there's something on that projector.
Speaker 1: So that's what we're doing Now.
Speaker 1: But here's the bottom line and here's what I would call the good news.
Speaker 1: So there's the advice, here's the good news.
Speaker 1: And the good news is this no matter how many resolutions you do or don't do.
Speaker 1: None of those things will make God love you anymore or make God love you any less than God already does.
Speaker 1: So do the resolutions fine, and celebrate them, and they're great.
Speaker 1: I think they're wonderful.
Speaker 1: But you've got to know this no amount of self-improvement or self-help or betterment or progress will make God love you anymore.
Speaker 1: Because I wonder if deep down inside of all of us there's some inkling that, gosh, if I just would perform better, if I would just eat better or work out harder or look a little bit better or whatever the thing is.
Speaker 1: I think we have this inkling.
Speaker 1: If I just do these things, then maybe I will be more lovable and more, and God will approve of me even more, and then I'll finally kind of make it.
Speaker 1: And I'm just here to tell you that that's a lie.
Speaker 1: God already loves you.
Speaker 1: God has chosen you, god has made his way to you, and not because of any of the healthy eating or dieting or working out or whatever that you've done.
Speaker 1: God just loves you because you're his son or because you're his daughter.
Speaker 1: So do the resolutions and have fun doing them and, great, go to the gym and whatever, but know that God already loves you more than you ever possibly could.
Speaker 1: All right, happy news everybody.
Speaker 1: Peace to you.
Speaker 1: We'll see you around.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends.
Speaker 1: And don't forget, you are always welcome to join us in person at Central in Elk River at 830, which is our local gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering, or you can check us out online at clclgriverorg.
Speaker 1: Peace.