Good for the Soul

Today, I read a fascinating article in the New York Times opinion section titled "Resolutions that are Good for the Soul." I looked up the definition of soul to make sure I understood it's use and it is very similar to what I call our inner being, that part of us that lives throughout all our lifetimes.

Here are some of the suggestions that I believe would pertain to a Pagan life:

• Begin the day reading about faith.

• Create silence

• Write one letter every week

• Forget balance and embrace grace

• Gather, feast and rest with others

• Seek the wisdom of elders

These ideas were written by different types of spiritual people and other types of people. Certainly, we can start the day reading about Pagan faith. Our faith is very book intense, so there is a lot to choose from, either in our own libraries or online. It might be fun to try bibliomancy, where you just open a book and point and read what you've pointed to for inspiration. Or maybe you pick up a book you read quite awhile ago and see it with new eyes.

Silence is an excellent habit to engage in. When we are silent, we can hear more around us. We can listen to our thoughts to see how our minds are working. We can hear the Goddesses and Gods speak to us. We can feel our ears relax. We don't need to practice silence all the time, but occasionally it is a great practice.

The author, Karine Yan Glaser, thinks writing a letter week to someone we love or cherish brings joy to the recipient and helps strengthen our relationships. And recently I read that human happiness is certainly based on our ability to have good relationships with a variety of people. Writing a letter can also help us slow down a bit and think about our lives and the lives of those we love.

I personally love the one about forgetting balance and embracing grace, which is saying something being a Libra. This author, Nii Addy, who is a neuroscientist, argues that balance is "false construct of a task-based world." While I'm not sure I agree with that statement, I do agree with her idea that we can pause in our lives to "engage in focused breathing, meditation, prayer or expressions of gratitude." By doing this, she states we allow peace and harmony into our souls. Indeed, those types of practices can help us communicate easier with our inner being, which is the source of our unconditional love. To me grace would be the one of the expressions of unconditional love.

Gathering and feasting are clearly practices Pagans would want to do. The author, Rich Villodas, believes feasting as a regular practice help us savor what divinity gives us. For Pagans, this could be appreciating the Earth and her bounty, or our specific deities. We could pick one day a week that is meaningful to us, such as Sunday to celebrate what the Sun does for us. Or Monday, to celebrate our beautiful moon in all her phases. We could feast with our family or invite friends or coven mates to enhance our relationships.

Seeking the wisdom of elders seems to me to be a clear Pagan practice. The author, Jay Pathak, states "Elders could offer nuanced and practical advice - ancient wisdom that was able to be applied to our circumstances." In Paganism, we can celebrate aging as a natural process with its own unique gifts. We can see all of our human development to be equal in offering us different perspectives on life. I'm grateful that we have positive images of older women in our faith.

I rarely make New Year's resolutions and prefer to talk about my intentions for the coming year. However, I found this NYT article inspirational and worth contemplating. Perhaps, some of these ideas might appeal to you as a New Years practice to engage in.