Resolutions. January 1 we make them. January 2 we break them. January 3 we forget about them. We have a tip for you. Live 2025 like it was the 1960s.
The 1960s was a tumultuous time but for those who remember it, (and to be honest, only half of ROAMcare does,) the songs defined the decade. Especially the middle years. Songs of hope, life, and love, songs of sharing and caring, songs of laughter and living through the pain.
Consider some that may not have been the biggest hits but shine with the brightest memories.
God Only Knows, by The Beach Boys, 1966
Here, There, and Everywhere, by The Beatles, 1966
Cherish, by The Association, 1966
Reach Out (I’ll Be There), by The Four Tops, 1967
The Fifty-Ninth Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy), by Simon and Garfunkel, 1966
Wait, you say, these are love songs, not aspirational athems for a new year! That’s the point. They are love songs and what better aspiration than to start a new year, indeed, to start every new day, than to be inspired by the love that comes with being alive.
This is not the first time we dove into the music pool looking for inspiration. On Valentine’s Day 2024 we posted All We Need is Love inspired by The Beatles 1967 hit, “All You Need is Love.” We wrote, “The messages are so simplistic and the task is so easy by design so that everybody can be part of the process. It takes no special skill, no particular expertise, no real talent. Love is a part of us. It is within us. We are born to love.”
Our challenge to you is to make the simple act we perform so well every February 14 a daily habit. Make “say ‘I love you’ to somebody” number one on your daily to do list. Imagine the responses you will receive from that daily prompt. And do not forget, love isn’t just for lovers. Love is for everybody!
In our February 1, 2023 post Three Little Words, we discussed the ancient Greek concept of seven loves, Romantic, Affectionate, Familial, Selfless, Playful, Committed, and Self love. You might say there is a love for every occasion. We wrote then, “Love is a source of motivation and strength for us as individuals,” encouraging others to express their love during that month known for love’s outward symbols.
Now we ask you to hold on to that spirit not for a day or a month, for the full year. We have said in both of those earlier posts, “We relish, in fact we need to be with and interact with other humans. Our connections with each other are often born of need but grow because we want to explore and deepen those connections… All of those connections are some form of love.”
Imagine if everyone began this year rather than resolving to lose weight or to exercise more, that they willl work to lose hostility and to love more. Love is the root of all that is good. It doesn’t have to be elegant, it doesn’t have to be momentous. It merely has to be and it can be its best when it is shared.
Live 2025 like you did in the 1960s. Fill your days with hope, life, and love, with sharing and caring, with laughter and living through the pain. Start each day with your favorite 1960s ballad and make it that day’s mantra. Surely you know someone who…
Doesn’t know what they’d do without you
Changes your life with a wave of their hand
Could cherish life as much as you do yours
Will love and comfort you
Slows down to watch the flowers grow with you
Love is part of us. It is within us. Make this year's mission to live a life of love and then share it, because love is at its liveliest when it is shared.
Live, love, share. Make this year a year of love. God only knows what we’d do without it.
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