 There exists many differing opinions about New Year’s resolutions ranging from: “Of course I make goals for the New Year…and keep them,” or “…and already forgot them,” to “Why bother? Gregorian calendar, whatever.”
Since we tend to strive towards some “better” way of being, most of us promise publicly, or quietly to ourselves (lest we fail) to do more of the “good stuff” and less of the “bad stuff.” We often look towards some end goal and wind up chastising ourselves for choosing Netflix over Zumba, eating that second pastry, not focusing enough on completing our personal projects, or focusing too much on Facebook….yet again. I invite you to contemplate this: our process, our being-ness, or how we move through our lives is what deserves the most attention. We might get to our end goals by fitting more in our schedules and checking off more from our ‘to do’ lists (yes, I have several). But at what expense? Were we content, and compassionate, hell, even fulfilled in the process? Did we complete our list in lieu of spending quality play time with our children? Did we pause enough along the way to really enjoy eating that salted caramel ice cream or did we tune out and scarf it down because if we were to really savor it, we might actually feel the guilt? Are we taking moments to look within about what may best serve us? Are we compassionate to the people we encounter along the way? Did we slow down enough to acknowledge how amazing the people are around us or how grateful we are for the natural world and for the Earth sustaining us? And these questions lead me to ponder even deeper: if we were to slow down first, do we then become more compassionate and grateful? Or does being more compassionate allow us to feel an innate sense of joy, whereby making us less concerned about doing so much? If we, instead, we resolve to invite in expansion, a deeper connection with our intuition, appreciation of the little joys (and maybe even the challenges), more checking in, instead of checking out and contraction around what we want, need, or must do, we will soon feel the joy of being alive. And then, we just might feel more inspired to move more naturally towards accomplishing that ‘to do’ list. |
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