I don't do New Year resolutions any more because I only employ them for a couple of days. The intentions are all very good of course, but the follow up is extremely lacking. Why is that? Well my contention is that it's like going on a diet. You feel, subconsciously mind you, as if you're going to have to go without, that something is going to be taken away.
One resolution I recall was the promise to exercise more. In retrospect, the thing that I inadvertently felt was being taken away was my precious time. I felt justified in believing that there were a lot more enjoyable things to do with my time other than grunting, sweating, and straining to attain a muscular body. Besides that it was winter time. Why not pick it up in the spring and be ready for the summer when there'll be a better opportunity for others to look at me and have some degree of awe and appreciation for all the work I've put in. As you already know, that particular resolution, after about January 10th of that year, didn't receive further consideration until the following New Year.
What's the solution. For me it's all about perspective and attitude. Referring back to the diet analogy, the key is not to think of what we do as a temporary occurrence, but to see it as a life altering opportunity. A diet should not be a weight loss endeavor but a food transition. As for my muscle building strategy, it should have been viewed as the beginning of a continuum of health and vitality, rather than an attempt to get the coveted attention of others. Whatever the case, resolutions are important components in our attempts to do or be better, and the key is to look at them from a standpoint of saying "I'm doing this until" and not setting a specific, possibly unattainable goal.
Yesterday I asked myself and a couple of family members the question "Why are you here?" My personal response was, "To be of service to others." My wife Nicole replied, "To attain self-realization through playing music and having relationship with others." My mother Madeline responded with, "Because I have something to do." My big sister Pat answered with, "To be all that I can be." The question was a spur of the moment inquiry and allowed no time for contemplative assessment. Because of that, the responses were spontaneous, and if you'll notice none of them contained or even implied a time restraint. Each and every response was comprised of starting now and going on until.
I'm sure you all would have answered that question "Why are you here?", in pretty much the same manner that my family members and myself did, and I'm positive that we are all optimally efficient when we are not constrained by time and/or worried about doing stuff right. We are all here because we want to help. We all want to know who we are, so that we can be all that we can be, in order to figure out what it is we have to do. It's a process ya'll, it's all about trial and error, and right now, we're exactly where we're supposed to be. Discomfort is the motivator here, and a birthday and the first day of the year are the ultimate catalysts for reminding us it's time to make a change, a time to do things a little differently.
The New Year is upon us, and of course our desire is to be better than before. We make resolutions with sincere intent because that's where we are on January 1st of any year. Days or weeks later we're beating up on ourselves because we haven't kept the promise we seemingly made just moments ago. What's wrong with us...nothing. We're simply being all that we can be at the time we're being it. What we can do is accept that and either don't make promises we can't keep, or don't be alarmed or upset if we can't keep the promises we made. No one of us is here to change the world, but each of us is here to facilitate a change in ourselves if need be, so that the entire universe can benefit in our collaborative process.
The focus should be on the effort ya'll, not the outcome. It's all about continuing to do what we do, as best we can with what we've got, and doing something different if we feel that it ain't enough. When, where, and how we do it is up to us. What's most important is that we try, we keep trying, and then... we try again.
I'll Holla...
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