This year I decided to look at the bigger picture and develop a plan for how I would like to grow spiritually and personally in incremental ways over the next half of my life ( this assumes that I will live to be 110 which means some wiggle room). I have found no better guidelines for this long term growth plan than the widely circulated set of instructions for the new millennium attributed to the Dalai Lama. In case you have missed them, I am sharing them now:

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the 3 Rs: Respect for Self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so that you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you have made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation of your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go somewhere you have never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other extends your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you have to give up in order to get it.

-- Blessings, Rev. Gail