Most of us make resolutions every new year. Resolutions are basically a firm determination to do something. As we set our resolutions for this new year, maybe we should stop to think about why we are making resolutions and where our resolutions are coming from. I think a lot of people tend to treat their resolutions as half thought-out goals. Are we making resolutions just because everyone else is? Are they the same resolutions as most people are making? Exercise more, stop smoking, make more money? Those are great goals if you set your intentions accordingly, but they are a little vague. How serious are we about these resolutions? If you are not making resolutions that come from your heart, then why make them?
If your resolutions are nothing more than a ritual and most of the time you never think about them again after February, maybe making resolutions are actually making you feel worse. If our heart is not in the setting of these goals and our thoughts are that we will probably not achieve them anyway, then are we starting the new year feeling like a failure and expecting failure in the new year? Why would we choose to start the new year that way? Maybe it is time we started actually looking at our resolution process.
Most people focus on what they did not accomplish from the past year or all the things that went wrong, hoping this year will make them feel better. Maybe we should start our resolution process thinking about specific things we are grateful for from the previous year. Then, make a list of all the things that bring us joy. That should be the start of our resolution list. Pick even just one or two things from your joy list and make a conscious effort to incorporate them more in to your daily routine. This is a much more obtainable list for many reasons. First, it is individually tailored to our heart. Second, it is something you will probably actually be successful at. Third, it is not the list of other’s expectations. When your resolution is to lose weight, why is that your resolution? Are you doing it for yourself or others? If you are not doing it because you truly have the want and drive to do it, you will probably not achieve that goal. After all, a resolution is a ‘firm determination’ to do something. I am not saying there is anything necessarily wrong with not achieving goals, but if we are conscious about why we are setting them and the process we use to come up with them we will likely be much more successful at achieving them.