I usually don’t make new year’s resolutions because I believe that by an in the large they are impossible to keep. Just listen to many:
I’m going to lose 50 pounds this year. I’m going to fight for world peace. I’m going to be a better person. I’m going to make a new friend each month. I’m going to work harder and make my job better. I’m going to prove to my boss that I’m worth a raise. I’m going to demand a raise and get it. I’m going to the gym every day for an hour (I don’t go at all now.) etc, etc, etc
Oh please – we all know these resolutions are made with the best of intentions but will be forgotten by the end of January. There are always excuses, reasons, or just laziness. Can we possibly change the habits of a lifetime in just a few months? I don’t think so.
I decided to make some resolutions that I can keep. Let’s see if it works.
- I will blog every workday. Maybe also on weekends. I will use ideas from Parknews.biz or simply look out the window and bore you to death. They all won’t be Pulitzer material but they will keep my brain working.
- I will lose 12 pounds this year, one a month. And keep it off.
- To help with number two, I will increase my exercise. I don’t know how much, just that I will walk further each day than I did on average last year. Maybe only a block or two, but I will increase. Dog GiGi will ensure I get out of the house on walks at least twice a day.
- I will attempt to be more tolerant of my fellow man, and woman. I know I will fail at this, but writing it down makes me feel better.
- Procrastination is one of my many failings. I will attempt to stop putting things off beginning in June.
- I need a change, so I will move my desk. I’m not sure how, but it will be moved by the time I stop procrastinating.
- Questionstorming sounds like an upgrade from brainstorming. I will attempt to ask a cogent question every day. Some days I may even ask it when people are in the room.
- Socrates says that “an unexamined life is not worth living.” I am going to try to figure out what that means and if I can make sense of it, apply it sometime after I move my desk.
- I plan to keep up my goal of reading at least two books a week. Maybe even read a classic now and then, at which time I will lower the goal to finishing the classic before continuing two books a week.
- I will keep this list and fess up this time next year.
Happy New Year and All the Best
JVH
One Response
If resolutions are called intentions, then they do come from inner reflection. Perhaps they are not kept yet, often times they are. Day by day. Therefore, since most of us live unexamined lives daily, without truly being aware how we act, what we say, what we do, it all starts with those intentions. A bit of awareness. What a beautiful way to start a new year. Instead of being in denial, we take some responsibility for changes we should make. Loosing 20 lbs is a great intention. If I am aware of what I eat day one, day two, day three, then eventually, I will break my habits. So from my perspective, hurray for resolutions or intentions. Nothing happens without those first. Blessed New Year. Sincerely, Astrid