December 28, 2022
Lessons, Leave-Behinds and Looking Forward to New Year
Mike Barzacchini
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The New Year is on its way, and it always reminds me that it's time for reflection. So I recently brewed a cup of my favorite black tea, added a little honey, and spent a few moments in front of my kitchen window view to consider the following three questions:
While not new lessons, 2022 continued to teach me humility, resilience, empathy, and kindness. Those last two lessons I hold especially close. As I navigate life, I experience challenges and loss, like we all do. But I find that empathy, beginning with myself and radiating out to others, combined with even the smallest acts of kindness, pave my path forward.
Both empathy and kindness are practices that take focus and intention. This year I want to deepen my commitment to, and my practice of, both. For my own benefit and to make even the smallest positive difference in my world.
I hope to leave behind the limits I place on myself. As I look back on my life and plan forward, I continue to learn that my biggest obstacles are those I create.
Self-doubt, anxiety, inertia, and a host of others. They all add up to limits. In 2023, I intend to limit myself less and strive toward achieving more of what matters most.
I look forward to connecting more dots. The icebreaker of a recent #MTtalk asked, "If you had unlimited charitable funds, where would you donate?"
My first response was to list three things – feed the hungry, especially children, promote literacy, and help rescue dogs. Then I thought, "What would happen if I connected these dots?"
Could I, for example, start a free lunch program that would provide children with opportunities to read to foster dogs? While I will pursue this idea (and keep looking for that large bag of money to fund it!), the lasting takeaway for me is to be open to the power of connecting ideas, resources, and people to solve problems and create opportunities.
Maybe what I'm looking forward to most is applying those lessons of empathy and kindness, to guide these connections and build community.
Now it's your turn. What has 2022 taught you? What do you hope to leave behind? And what will you carry forward to create a bright, successful new year?
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