Fourteen Steps to Cultivating Fulfillment in the Coming Year

Esteban Montilla | 27 diciembre, 2024

Salutations, and I wish you all the best for this new year 2025. The personal human development index hinges on who people are, their choices, and the opportunities other individuals and institutions present to them. In this sense, I take this opportunity to share fourteen premises that could guide you to a fuller and more meaningful development in the new year.

1) Follow basic precautions for managing infectious diseases. This means paying attention to your physician and the scientific guidelines established by the country’s health authorities, such as vaccination, frequent handwashing, using masks when necessary, and monitoring your health.

2) Eat healthily. The idea is to eat well and balanced by eating foods that have fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Small portions are the best choice. Avoid ultra-processed foods (soft drinks, sausages, sweetened milk, margarine, colorants, sweeteners) if possible. It is crucial to consume drinking water throughout the day. This also follows the indications of practicing health professionals committed to science and approaches based on scientific evidence.

3) Keep moving. Your organism and the health professionals you consult can tell you the most proper way to keep moving. For example, if walking is possible, it is good exercise. At least 150 minutes of physical exercise per week makes a big difference (This is the recommendation from the World Health Organization, 2024). You will be able to increase, with constancy and discipline, until you reach the steps recommended by your health specialist. It is essential that, together with your physician, you develop an exercise plan that can translate into general well-being and psychological health.

4) Rest and sleep as many hours as possible each day. In an ideal world, you should work eight hours, play eight hours, and rest eight hours. But the important thing is to keep this ideal in mind and move in that direction each week. An adult person usually achieves rest by sleeping between 6–8 hours. Activity and recreation contribute to good rest. Rest every day, weekly, and annually. Take more time to laugh and recreate your life healthily and dignified. It is essential to work and produce, but rest and leisure are also highly beneficial.

5) Use and exercise more of your faith in God. Your faith is enough. It is a matter of using it. Occupy yourself with things that transcend (putting a pause occasionally on our realities to concentrate on other people’s needs is the essence of spirituality); it allows you to grow in the spirit and make your soul prosper. Use a faith that seeks science, a faith that seeks to understand. That faith makes the difference.

6) Maintain a spirit of gratitude and generosity throughout the year. Say, thank you very much more often. Share the kindnesses you receive from others. Even more so with people you feel have the greatest unmet needs. Do this without aggravation and with a cheerful heart. Set aside time to volunteer your services in a good agency or for a cause that works for a better humanity. Be grateful to the good people who have helped you get where you are today.

7) Say yes to new opportunities for growth and integral development. Take the risk of quitting the routine and, consequently, dare to say yes to new opportunities because they rarely appear again. Get out of the garden of conformity. Read more. Read beyond the traditional and accustomed. Paddle a little deeper.

8) Focus on the most essential things, especially making a difference. Nurture close, trusting relationships with the people you know are your true allies. Try not to give too much credit to life’s obstacles, which will rob you of the opportunity to live your life to the fullest. Be clear about your priorities.

9) Filter your actions through the screen of love and justice. Focus on activities that promote kindness and fairness. This will encourage you to act more compassionately, and you will surely be able to embrace a more forgiving spirit. Remember, practicing compassion for yourself and others will allow you to live free of negative prejudice and stereotypes.

10) Work hard on increasing your psychological flexibility. Be vigilant to discern if you are part of high-control religions that want to dictate your life. Exposure to this type of control could lead to moral psychological trauma. Attention is essential if one detects an attraction to radical, extreme, and intransigent positions since they may represent an obstacle to a peaceful and meaningful coexistence.

11) Consider your legacy. It is essential to stop and think about what you can leave to the people who pass through your life. It is good to reflect on what you can do during your lifetime that will benefit the people closest to you. In this sense, I remember my mother talking about “paying attention to the trail we leave behind.”

12) Share your life with allies—people who believe in you and care about your well-being, people of good and kind will. Avoid people who do harm, who suffocate dreams, and who truncate the potential of others. Be alert so as not to fall prey to people who oppress you, and at the same time, resist the temptation to dominate others.

13) Strengthen your willpower by exercising self-control in every aspect of your life. Identify the vices (deficiencies and excesses) that can alter the existential balance you long for in life. Give space to thoughts and dreams of a better life. Regulate and use primary and secondary emotions wisely to act with moderation.

14) Handle with wisdom and determination the diseases of the soul, such as bitterness, arrogance, desire for domination, corruption, and fanaticism. Do not skimp on working closely with health professionals committed to scientific rigor and whom you can trust for frank dialogue. Consulting with wise people can assist you in increasing your wisdom and thus help you decide to have a good life.