By Gonny 
The tradition says that with the new year come good intentions.
We promise ourselves to do better, eat healthier, react calmer, become wiser, nicer, stronger.
Usually by January 10th, most of those promises are quietly forgotten, somewhere between the cookies and the leftover champagne.
But what if this year we chose a different kind of intention, not something to do, but something to remember?
Imagine this simple situation.
Someone says something to you that feels rude, sharp, or just unnecessary.
Normally, something happens immediately.
A tightening….a story….a reaction.
The mind jumps in and says, “That was not okay,” and before you know it, you are defending, attacking, withdrawing, or replaying the scene in your head while brushing your teeth later that night.
What if, this year, you tried something radical.
What if you let it pass right through you.
Not because you are weak or “above it”, but because there is no longer a small, fragile self there that needs protection.
In A Course in Miracles, forgiveness is not about being kind to someone who hurt you. It is about recognizing that nothing real was threatened in the first place. Forgiveness, then, is not an action toward the other, it is a release within yourself.
You simply let the moment move through, like wind through an open window.
That doesn’t mean you suddenly become silent or passive.
You may still say, very clearly, “This behavior is not acceptable.”
But now those words come from calm, not from injury. From clarity, not from defense.
And something remarkable happens: The other person no longer controls your inner state. Your peace is no longer negotiated. You are not run by your thoughts. You are not living as a reaction.
You are in your power.
ACIM would say: you have stepped out of the dream character and remembered the Dreamer…and this doesn’t only apply to rude comments.
The mechanism is always the same.
A car alarm that won’t stop. A sudden loss. A plan that collapses.
A world event that triggers fear. Even the loss of possessions, status, or certainty.
The ego reacts with resistance.
The mind tightens and says, “This should not be happening.”
The Holy Spirit simply asks: What if nothing real can be threatened?
This year, instead of promising yourself to become a better version of the person you think you are, you might choose something far gentler.
You might choose to practice non-resistance….not as a rule or a moral standard, but as a quiet curiosity.
“What happens if I don’t take this personally?”
“What happens if I let this pass?”
“What happens if I remember that I am not this body, not this role, not this momentary emotion?”
That is a New Year’s intention that does not expire or need willpower.
It only needs: w i l l i n g n e s s
And maybe, just maybe, this is the year you discover that peace was never something you had to earn, improve, or defend.
With love and light,
G.