By Marcia Lee, Healing by Choice!, a women of color healing circle in Detroit, MI

Now that Christmas is over, you may be thinking about what new years’ resolutions you want to make and how you want to show up in this new year.  I want to invite you to consider, instead of a resolution, to make a New Years (R)evolution. Grace Lee Boggs  (right) taught us that the next revolution needs to be a (r)evolution = the re-evolution of ourselves and our community.  Although it is helpful to have goals for how we want to grow as individuals, we live in the context of the times we live in and in God’s time.  

What would your (r)evolution be if you started with: Who is God calling me to be in 2019?  What do I deeply care about? What does the world need in order for 2050 to be what I hope it will be?   

For context, the New Years (R)evolution idea came up because my partner (en Sawyer) and I are getting married on new years eve.  We do not want nor need physical gifts. At first we were not going to ask people for anything, but then we thought, this gathering is an opportunity to invite people to live more fully into their own calling, deepen in community, and be more about justice and love.  Therefore, in lieu of folks giving us gifts, we invited folks to give generously and often to themselves, their community, to our beloved Detroit(er)s, and to work that we believe will create a more just and compassionate world.

Below are (20)19 ideas, actions and commitments, to get you started.  However, these are just suggestions and ultimately you know what’s best for you 😉

1. Call a family member or friend who you haven’t talked to in a long while.
2. Write a letter or make something for someone.
3. Schedule an unscheduled day (Maybe even turn off your phone).
4. Help support a local community activist, Siwatu, remain free after she was unjustly imprisoned.  Check out Free Siwatu for how to donate.
5. Do something you’ve been wanting to do, but have been afraid to do.
6.  Write or copy an inspirational poem and share it with someone you don’t know well.
7. Think of someone that makes you feel uncomfortable (for exp. a houseless person you pass on your way to work, a conservative uncle, etc.) and invite them to share some of their life story and share some of yours.
8. Support the creation of a locally run Food Coop in Detroit led by the amazing Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
9.  Find a quiet place, light incense or a candle to connect with ancestor(s) and give thanks and forgiveness.
10.  Build a kotatsu and lower the thermostat  
11. Go to Karaoke bar alone (or with someone) and practice your song
12.  Make space for the sacred in your life, by creating an altar, incorporating a practice into your day, or something else meaningful for you.
13.  Bring your neighbor a homemade pot of soup.
14. Support How We Deepen, a process for people of color to come together to deepen in our spiritual and activist foundations in order to create a more just and compassionate world.
15.  Ask about a youth’s dream and support it.
16.  Host a stranger party (throw a party where you invite your friends to bring their friends that they think would be awesome in your friend circle, but that you don’t know…yet.  This has resulted in at least one married couple amongst our friends in Detroit!)
17. Become a penpal with someone who is incarcerated.
18.  Call someone who’s made a difference in your life and let them know about it.
19. Do something that makes you happy everyday for 2019 and beyond!

p.s. For some more outward action ideas, check out Do Something and Better World Shopper for other ways to ‘do small things with great love.’ (Mother Teresa)

Wishing you many blessings, joy, and wisdom in this time where the veil between the spiritual and physical world is thin, where remembering and (re)imagination is vital for our thrival, and we are called to live our values and listen to our God’s voice with fierce dedication.