2020 New Year resolution | Korean Aesthetic Clinic

What did 2019 teach you? What did you like, and not like about the year? If you had the opportunity to re-live it, what would you change? =)

As the year draws to a close, its the time to take stock of where we are at, and where we would all like to be. Those time honoured new year resolutions of waking up earlier, eating less supper, going to the gym more often are probably forever on our to do lists. =P

So what did 2019 teach you?

2019 taught me 3 things.

The wind howls, but the mountain remains still. The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.
Dr Daniel Chang

Simply put, it is essential to learn to stop and smell the roses. I found that in our fast paced lives, the trap of being busy and wanting to always stay busy is so incredibly powerful. The need to pack our lives with many to-do-lists may make us feel important and falsely fills up our sense of emptiness, but it causes us to lose sight of ourselves. We begin to stress our minds, bodies. We need to learn to stop and listen to our bodies, listen to our minds, listen to our souls. And i think that this is why the mindfulness movement is gaining so much traction these days. So yes, my rule number one is, take a moment, to stop doing, and simply be. Take a moment to stop worrying, and simply be. Take a moment, to stop planning, and simply be. Take a moment, to stop thinking, and simply be. Be with your breath, be with your mind, be with this moment… So take some time every day to just be, and you will soon see changes you really like.

Number 2. Everyone wants to be happy and no one wants to suffer. Everyone is in pursuit of happiness, though not everyone is doing the same things. But everyone has a right to his or her own happiness and their actions arise from this premise. So we must learn to accept this simple but enormously important fact. Happiness in my opinion, lies in giving thanks daily, being grateful for the little things in life and developing a sense of care and concern for the people who come into your lives. Of course, not everyone will agree with this and there will always be those who seek competition and thrive at the expense of others. Let it be. It may takes years of conscious effort, training our minds, hearts and actions in a disciplined way to achieve this bigger picture thinking. When we become inward looking, we lose sight of the bigger picture, and become trapped in a me first, self serving ideology. So my rule number 2 is, be outward looking and accept others for who they are.

Number 3: We are all inter-connected. It is a fallacy to think that we can go through life living simply for ourself, by ourself. God never created Man to be alone. We need to go out and give, and share, and care for one another.

So in my humble opinion, the way to leading meaningful lives is to make consistent effort to keep in touch, checking in on family and friends, building a strong, closely knit community. In the process, enriching lives and doing our part to make the world a teeny weeny better place for the generation after us.

So in summary… here are my personal take home messages for 2019.