Happy New Year from Desert Mountain Apothecary! It’s been a supremely beautiful holiday season here in the California Desert, with wild winter weather, great food, and a siphon’s draw or two of fine spirits. Some years I don’t have any New Year’s resolutions, but this year I’m brimming with them, and most of them are about keeping up with the basics, but some are about new experiences. For someone who hasn’t been on the healing path for nigh on a decade, it can be overwhelming, and truly counterproductive to make New Year’s resolutions. They never stick, and in a month or two you’ll be even farther behind than you were because you feel defeated and de-motivated.
This year, I want to share something that has helped me so much over the years, and more and more over time, as I have learned to hone this skill. This is the skill of creation, creating what we want rather than seeking it out. Seeking is better than just being completely complacent and obstinate towards any positive change, but when you are seeking something, it’s by definition outside of you, and you don’t have it. Worse still, you are dependent on what you are seeking, and by definition creating a need that can only be fulfilled independently of yourself.
I had a friend many years ago who was depressed and asking me for help but being so resistant and negative in the process. She had literally traveled the entirety of the world seeking enlightenment, peace, and inspiration, and was in a darker place than ever. My advice to her was, “I don’t seek happiness, joy, inspiration, beauty, etc., in my life, I create them, every minute of every day.” We create our reality to a very large degree, although obviously external circumstances dictate our lives, the way we react to them, and psychologically and emotionally frame them is within our power.
So today, and in this coming year, I urge you not to seek out happiness, love, a secret weight loss trick, an exercise hack, a tribe, a community, or inspiration, but to create those things. There’s a wonderful saying from Denmark that I always hold dear, I don’t remember it verbatim, but it’s basically, “the happiness we have is what we make for ourselves.” So plan your fun, put a smile on and laugh when everything is going wrong, and at the end of a bad day put a laugh out loud comedy show on and then laugh until you cry rather than just crying.
The most important thing this coming year is that we all need to make that extra effort to be more loving, and more present with the people we care about. A great way to start off the new year is by giving back to worthy and reputable charities.
Shelter From The Storm, Palm Desert, CA
https://www.shelterfromthestorm.com/
Shelter from the Storm helps these women and their children in many different ways including a 24-hour crisis hotline for victims, domestic violence outreach, and providing valuable consultation services to clinical, medical, legal, law enforcement professionals, and local communities about domestic violence. They operate a community counseling center, and provide basic hygiene, personal care items, and nonperishable food items to clients in the shelter service program and those enrolled in services at the community counseling center.
Martha’s Village & Kitchen, Indio, CA
Martha’s Village & Kitchen is one of the largest providers of homeless and impoverished services in the Coachella Valley and Riverside County with over 8,000 people in need passing through its doors yearly. The organization began in 1990 when the founders served meals to their homeless neighbors, fast forward to 2021 Martha’s now has its main campus located in Indio, CA, and three satellite offices throughout the Coachella Valley. Today, from its campus and satellite offices Martha’s Village offers unique life-changing programs based on the nationally-recognized “continuum of care model” breaking the cycle of homelessness and poverty.
ALS Association:
https://www.als.org/
The ALS association mission is to discover treatments and a cure for ALS, and to serve, advocate for, and empower people affected by ALS to live their lives to the fullest. According to the American Academy of Neurology’s Practice Parameter Update, studies have shown that participation in a multidisciplinary ALS clinic may prolong survival and improve quality of life.
From me, William Z. Brennan, and Desert Mountain Apothecary I want to wish everyone a joyful, peaceful, and healthy 2023. Thank you so much for watching my videos, reading my articles, and supporting Desert Mountain Apothecary, I have several projects in the works for 2023 and I am very excited to be putting out a teaser for soon so stay tuned!
With lots of love and all the best,
William Z. Brennan
The Original Desert Apothecary for Mind Body & Spirit: Desert Mountain Apothecary