29
December 2001
Subject:
New Year’s Resolutions
Dear
Ones,
It's
Saturday and time to take another marble out of the jar.
Also,
in another couple of days, a New Year will dawn upon us.... and that means it's
time to make the traditional New Year's resolutions. You know, those high-minded
goals (lose weight, exercise more, stop smoking) we adopt before January 1st
each year only to see many, if not most, of them broken or forgotten before
February rolls around. Perhaps, that is why some refer to these backsliding
occurrences as New Year's "dissolutions".
History
tell us the Babylonians celebrated New Year's Day over four thousand years ago,
although their celebration was in March rather than in January, coinciding with
the spring planting of crops. When Great Britain and its colonies in America
adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, January 1st was restored as New Year's
Day. It is said that resolutions are a reflection of the Babylonians' belief
that what a person does on the first day of the New Year will have an effect
throughout the entire year. Likewise, following earlier beliefs and
customs, we do some rather strange things and eat all sorts of foods on New
Year's Day to, hopefully, bring us luck in the days ahead.
The New
Year, no matter when people have celebrated it, has always been a time for
looking back at the past, and more importantly, forward to the coming year.
It's time to reflect on the changes we want, or often need, if we're to move
forward. We, therefore, look upon the coming New Year with a sense of
renewal, of rebirth, and, quite possibly, the guilty awareness that we ate our
own weight in chocolate during the holidays. You know, it's hard not
to get the urge to make resolutions when the pangs of guilt hit you, as you
stand naked before the bathroom mirror.
There were
days when I didn't spend much time thinking about such things as
resolutions, however, in my later years I find that I need all the
incentives I can find to muster up the determination and will to accomplish the
goals I want to achieve. I don't know about you, but I welcome a challenge....
and keeping one's New Year's resolutions is definitely a "prime time"
challenge.
Surveys
of those making resolutions reveal that people are more willing to do something
they know is right than to give up something they know is wrong. Perhaps if we
looked outward instead of inward when making our declarations we would be able
to finish the year feeling good about ourselves. Resolutions that make you feel
good about yourself might include thinking of others instead of thinking in
terms of what will better your own world. Bettering someone else’s world and
knowing the sacrifice you make is done selflessly should make you feel real good
about yourself.
This
year, let us move beyond resolution "maker" and resolution
"breaker" to something more akin to promise "keeper" by
adopting resolutions that will benefit others and last a lifetime instead of
merely a year. A simple resolution like "this year I resolve to be better
and do better.... all the while putting others above self" might provide us
with a good start.
This
New Year let us resolve to be resolute in our resolutions!
But, remember, if you break your resolutions, you'll be continuing a long
tradition of broken resolutions dating back to the dawn of recorded history! And
if you have a false start, you can always start over again in March.... à la
Babylonia!
Happy
New Year!!
Don
