The beginning of a new year offers us a special time and a unique opportunity to reflect upon the meaning of our lives. In connection with this, it is a time when many people make “resolutions” describing the changes they intend to make in their lives, with, of course, the best intentions of fulfilling them.

It is also a time when many people question whether they have the innate capacity and are adequately prepared to cope with the various and often formidable challenges that lie before them in the new year and beyond. To be sure, ringing in the “New Year” brings with it a wide mix of emotions: some exhilarating and hopeful, others debilitating and discouraging, all stressful in their own way.

Against the backdrop of many events over the past year, there are warning signs on the horizon that warrant serious concern across society at large as well as in the American and global economies. Even people who are fortunate enough today to be gainfully employed and live in places that could be described as safe and secure are not necessarily “happy” in the face of so much change taking place, coupled with the uncertainty of what may lie ahead. And this sentiment applies not only to their personal lives but also to their work lives.

Yet not all is gloom and doom by any means. At least this is the case if we commit........

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