Happy Holidays! This post is coming out Christmas Eve, but my greeting goes out to everyone celebrating the season.
I just read a National Geographic article about the seven principles of Kwanzaa. A holiday created by one person to foster unity among African Americans, it has spread across the globe. It's not a religion, but the principles seem like a good guide to living, even if you're not black or American. They address unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. The idea of Kwanza is to focus on one of the principles for each of seven days in a row, and then try to take that forward into your life through the next year.
I have my most productive years when I take time at year's end to assess what I've done and consider what I want to accomplish in the next year. I think, to help me plan next year, I'm going to spend the next week focusing on one of the principles of Kwanza each day - even though it's not the right dates and I don't fit the original audience, and I may tweak the nature of the principle to be more general.
If you celebrate Christmas or Hanukuh or play Grinch throughout the month, consider trying this with me:
Today, think about unity - how you can work together in your family, community, our nation. How can you help heal divisions?
Tomorrow, think about who you are and what you want to be. If there are changes you want to make, decide what needs to be done, make a plan, and get to work. Let others know you appreciate their part in your life.
Each of the next days, consider one principle:
Collective Work and Responsibility: Plan how you are going to build on commitments and relationships you already have; consider what others you want to begin.
Cooperative Economics: This originally encourages African Americans to support black-owned businesses. We've all grown accustomed to ordering from big businesses online - discover your local businesses and consider how to support them.
Purpose: Consider and choose a purpose in your life and focus on that. How will everything else you do serve that purpose?
Creativity: Be intentional. For me, this means asking some questions: What do I want to accomplish with my creativity? How do I want it to be expressed? How do I want it to fit into my life?
Faith: Be faithful to yourself, to your family and community and culture. Have faith you can make the world a better place to be through your daily choices.
That brings us to New Year's Eve - time to create a motivation board or write resolutions or draft a plan for the year ahead.
Remember: Baby steps count, it's the direction that matters.
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