How to Enter the New Year with a Stronger Mind

We’re beginning a new year, and I want to bring you a special message to help us in making this a better year. Hope is fundamental to our mental health. Studies carried out, for example, at the University of Arizona by Dr. Udelman’s research team have shown that when we cultivate hope in our minds, our immune system works better.

Years ago, a Nobel Prize was awarded to a team that showed that there is communication between the cells of the central nervous system, the immune system and the endocrine system. What does this mean? In other words, the thoughts we hold in our minds, the feelings we cultivate the most, and the things we contemplate the most, affect our physical health. Dr. Udelman and his team found that somebody who is psychologically grieving the death of a loved one can have weakened immunity for several months, because the sadness generated by the loss diminishes or blocks the ability of the defense cells to operate properly.

So a mindset such as cultivating hope can really help our health. That’s why, as you start a new year, you can cultivate thoughts of hope, so that not only your mental health flourishes, but also your physical and spiritual health.

Failing to cultivate hope can cause someone to live in hopelessness. They look to the future and only see tragedies, they look to the present and only see cause for complaint, they look to the past and regret what they have lost, and they blame themselves for what they think they should have done. This saddens the individual, creates discouragement and irritability, harms physical health and favors the emergence of depressive states or excessive anxiety, insomnia and relationship problems.

On the other hand, when you nurture the hope of resolving struggles and conflicts within yourself, in your social environment, family, marriage, work, religious community, you become lighter, less irritable, avoid psychosomatic diseases, sleep better and open the door for better relationships with people, at least as far as it depends on you, because you are nurturing positive thoughts. Sometimes hope is achieved not by gaining back what you’ve lost, because there may be no way back, but by strengthening yourself to deal with the loss.

How do you develop hope if you’re struggling with some sort of inner conflict? Stop and think: what is this conflict? Is it with someone from the present or the past? Who are the people connected to this conflict? What is the meaning of this struggle? Did you want attention from a person and they were indifferent? You loved someone and they left you prematurely, through death, divorce or abandonment. When did the conflict begin? In childhood, adolescence, adulthood? How did it begin? This self-analysis means putting your cards on the table. It’s the beginning of the search for the truth about your life and your pain, which can lead to freedom from suffering.

Then reflect: what is the most difficult problem in this conflict? Is there anything I can do that I haven’t already done to solve it? Is there someone who can help me or is it something that only I can do? So take the first step, don’t wait for anyone, act right now and start thinking again about how to deal with this problem or conflict. Stop complaining about life, about people, about God. That doesn’t get you anywhere.

Perhaps the first big step towards cultivating hope has to do with changing the way you deal with this specific problem in your life, the one that is the most difficult for you, but also changing the way you deal with the other problems, one at a time. It’s like using a better, more suitable tool to fix something, instead of using an unsuitable tool, which takes more work, takes longer and can even damage something. Just as, by using the appropriate tool, the problem is solved effectively, so it is with our mind: to cultivate hope, start with yourself, changing the way you think about the problem. Take the initiative to cultivate thoughts that are different from the usual ones in the attempt to resolve the problem. You have to forgive, including yourself, and make amends with those you have wronged. Do it soon, except if it could hurt other people.

Have you abandoned God and have bitterness towards him? Talk to Him about it, be honest in your prayer and open your heart to Him. It’s not God who needs to hear what you’re hiding, but you who needs to speak in order to receive healing. Accept some loss. Acceptance isn’t about agreeing, it’s about looking at reality and saying: “I despise the fact that this has happened, but it’s a reality and God is helping me to deal with it”. Start a new year with good thoughts, not just good ones, but new and healthy ones.

Another thing for us to reflect on as the new year begins is that everyone should think about and recognize that there may be various areas of their life that are not yet well developed, and humbly admit that we all need one another. This attitude can prevent unfair demands from you on yourself and from you on others, and from others on you.

We need the police, the fire brigade, the justice department, the civil service, lawyers, judges, legislators, mayors, officials, garbage collectors, bakers, doctors, maids, traffic cops, supermarket cashiers, and the guys who carry our heavy shopping. We need street sweepers, broadcasters, journalists, everyone doing their job and doing it well. That way, we’ll have a wonderful year.

I do not know how well your society works, if everyone doing their job and doing it well. Nevertheless, you can do your part. In the worst-case scenario, at the end of this year, you’ll be able to look back and see that you used your energies well for the common good. You can start doing good today or continue to do good and make better use of your talents. You’ll be able to sleep peacefully and serenely throughout the year and know that you’ve been useful to humanity, because you’ve done something to reduce the pain we all feel.

So, I wish that in this new year, the energy that you and I channel into the talents that God has given us will be used to do good. A good new year is made by each one of us, and it will only be good if we are not dominated by selfishness, pride and a corrupted character, and if we use our talents for the benefit of humanity, one person at a time. I wish you peace, light, hope and an even more, useful life for the good of people and yourself in this new year that is just starting. Happy New Year to you!