Perpetual Resolution

With the New Year comes the obligatory need or desire to make resolutions. This is going to be the year I: get skinny, give up junk food, start exercising, learn Chinese, etc.  I’ve always hated resolutions, because I believe they set us up for failure.  If we hit one bump in the road (a party where we drink or eat to much, or we get sick and can’t exercise for a week), we doom the resolution a flop, give up and resort to our old ways.  We seem to have an all-or-nothing mentality when it comes to resolutions. I saw a fabulous YouTube video by a little girl that really nailed the problem with New Year’s resolutions and how we should rethink them. Below is an excerpt of her key points.  Oh my is she wise!

“People think that that’s it, it’s the one time to change….keep your resolutions, but go easy on yourself… it probably won’t happen in one big moment, it’ll happen in thousands of little moments…Every time you choose to forgive or slow down or be grateful or stay calm, each little moment you choose what’s right instead of what’s easy, faith instead of doubt, love instead of hate, that’s where change happens! Even if you fail one or two or thirty times, it’s ok! You’ve got thousands of more little moments ahead of you. You’ll get better.”

My resolution for the new year:
to engage in an affair with the divine
I'll call her, Joy

Of late, I've been caught up in the habitual rhythm of the mundane
She is present, but I am blind
Too busy with life to live it
Too tired to open my eyes

But she is there and I will seek her
there in the sun's rays
there in my children's smiles
there in my husband's unabashed laughter
at silly cat videos

There in a soothing cup of tea
or heart-pumping song
There in the power of my muscles on a cold morning run

She is everywhere! 
We have only to pay attention
instead of shutting down
To prime the fork
instead of swallowing the pill

She is there and I will seek her
I will call her Joy and she will be mine.

We have thousands of opportunities every day to change our lives and the lives of those around us. This change thing is a process, a lifelong process. And, those bumps in the road– those failures and mistakes– are all part of it. In fact, they are an integral part of it, where most of the growth and learning tends to happen. So, be gentle (to others and yourself). Be kind…always. And most importantly, DON’T GIVE UP!