Now that we are at the start of 2025, it might be worthwhile to consider your mental outlook.  In January, many people may experience a low mood and/or depression.  The holidays are over, the days can be dark and gloomy, the New Year’s resolutions may have become a distant glimmer in the corners of one’s mind, and the extra bills from the festivities are due.  The increased costs of food and housing, and just about everything else, along with work stress and relationship challenges, can easily cause a person to be in a constant state of worry and anxiety.  According to Statistics Canada, nearly half (45%) of all Canadians report that rising prices are significantly impacting their ability to meet day-to-day expenses.  This reality can lead to a great deal of fear.

As the stressors keep piling up, we may lose touch with the incredible power of our inner resources.  It is in these challenging and difficult times that we must rely on our innate strengths as human beings, including our reason, kindness and compassion.  Taking time to reflect and consider the most useful perspective in any situation can be very helpful.  Acknowledging our worries, anxieties and fears and moving beyond them, rather than jumping into panic mode, could be the wisest course of action.

As human beings, the choice of hope is available to us in every moment.  Often, future-oriented thinking can reduce the present to just another stepping stone on the way to our goals that are supposedly going to be met in the future when everything will be “perfect”.  We assume that everything will be perfect when we have the right salary, pay off that last bill, finish that project, realize our desired weight, or achieve some other goal.  Here and now, we are faced again with the choice to move beyond the illusion that all will be “perfect” at some future time.

Life is happening right now, and it is up to us to enjoy it.  Every thought you choose to focus on creates your current experience.  You have the power to decide what your focus will be.  It is up to you to take good care of yourself, engage in beneficial problem-solving, listen to your inner wisdom, practice self-compassion, and treat yourself in a loving way.

The present moment is the only point of change, and only you can decide how you are going to proceed in it.  By choosing to treat yourself in a loving manner, attend to your own needs, and reach out to others with kindness and compassion, you open yourself to many hopeful possibilities.  You might also allow more beauty, love, health and care into your life because you are living with a mindset that makes space for these expectations.  Living in peace with an attitude of love, acceptance and forgiveness towards yourself and others can help you to live fully in the present moment, and actually see the gifts and blessings in your life on a daily basis.

The way through fear is not to shut out any anxious thoughts or feelings, but to go beyond all the “what if” questions and realize that there is a much bigger version of ourselves than worry can contain.  Within all of us exists hope, peace, love, kindness, joy and forgiveness.  There exists a myriad of possibilities within situations that might at first appear “bad” or “good”.  Furthermore, rarely is any experience only positive or negative.  We can choose to seek out and take note of all that is valuable in any situation.  Many people find a healthier, happier and more hopeful perspective through meditation, spirituality, time spent in nature, journalling, or reading inspirational literature.  You may find this deeper path in your own unique and special way.

Rather than beginning 2025 swallowed up in fear and anxiety, why not choose hope, health, perspective, peace and prosperity?  Resist making it conditional, and open yourself to it right now.  Make a decision to look for the joy, the magic, the beauty in every moment.  Intentionally focus on the people and the activities that lift you up, and observe how your attention gradually shifts towards the people, places and events that inspire you.  Starting the new year with this positive outlook will help make each and every moment full of hope!