Every religious tradition, at least the ones I know about, has a day, or season of reflection and renewal. Whether driven by religious principles or not it’s helpful for us to take stock of our behavior periodically. As self-directed individuals, we benefit from reflecting on our accomplishments toward our life goals. We may need to adjust our life goals or even add new ones. The New Year offers an opportunity to make that reflection.
The new year doesn’t actually begin anything. A few days earlier is the longest night of the year. The light starts to return a bit longer each day. New Year’s Day is not the beginning of a season. It’s basically an arbitrary date. It’s when we start counting taxes and insurance deductibles for another year. Nonetheless, it provides an opportunity to reflect and set goals for the next phase of our lives.
One of my goals for 2019 is to reenergize this blog. After a couple of months of unintended hiatus, it seems like a good time to reboot.
We were in the midst of a series reflecting on the nature of needs versus wants. If we are to build a more responsible, compassionate and egalitarian culture, which some of us think is the call for our generation, then we must find a way to address the unmet needs that keep derailing our efforts. To give a framework to the discussion, we turned to Abraham Maslow’s theory of a Hierarchy of Needs.
Over the next several days I will repost the previous articles until we are up to date. Of course, anyone wanting to read the others more quickly can always go to the earlier versions.
I welcome a new year and a chance at new starts. As always, I encourage thoughts, comments or observations on any of our subjects.
E. L. Morrow -- Author 