Forget about resolutions you are not going to keep. Try renewal instead
Depending on your perspective, Time is infinite and multidimensional. Or Time is linear (with a past, present, and future) and finite.
Our calendar, our clocks, hours minutes, days, years – these are constructs, we made these to organize our world, so we can make appointments, and meet and do business and ensure an efficient usage of time. Of course, the notion of “efficiently” using time will not occur to someone who sees time as stretching outwards, possibly into infinity.
New Year parties are a celebration of linear time, a celebration of a social construct. And New Year’s resolutions are a manifestation of this perspective.
But the truth is that resolutions have to come from within. They cannot be forced.
You tell yourself that you want to lose weight, that you want to get some exercise, you want to achieve new sales targets, spend more time with family and so on.
If you are really diligent you might break this down into specific goals – lose 2 kilos a month by joining a gym and eating 10% less and so on.
But unless you have made a shift within you, these resolutions will soon be ignored, or worse still, the oppressive weight of unattained goals will begin to sap you of the very energy you need to attain your goals.
So, instead of making resolutions, I suggest you take this time for renewal. (If this sounds a bit New agey or flaky, let ,me remind you (as articles often do this time of year) that most new gym memberships in January are wasted.)
Today, instead of making a list of resolutions, set some time aside for reflection and meditation.
Consider the following:
The highs and lows in your life this past year: visualize significant events and allow the emotions to wash over you. Note down what action of yours you were the proudest of, and what action you were least proud of.
The first memory you have of yourself in 2011 – what were you feeling and what were you doing?
How does this contrast with your most recent day? What is different and what is the same?
Reflect on the fears that inhibit you.
Consider what you are passionate about.
Gratitude for what you have – your health, your family, your friends, life.
Reflect on any new people in your life, and those who are not so much a part of your life now.
Consider the billions of people on this planet, each having experienced a year of significant events.
Reflect on the infinity of time and the briefness of one year.
Consider your existence on this planet, the briefness of it relative to the eternity that surrounds you on either side of existence.
Accept all that has happened to you Accept where you are at present. Accept that everything will happen as it should.
Have a Happy New Year!