Resolution or Revolution?

Well, Bono may have sung that "nothing changes on New Year's Day", but we can choose to make small personal changes with the force of our will and a determination for growth and self-improvement, no matter the outer circumstances of the world. Even as genocide, hunger, poverty and war rage around us, we can champion incremental changes within our own small sphere of influence, and those changes can ripple outward and effect others in positive ways for days to come.

Personally, this New Year is about self-care and optimal health, and rather than make resolutions to exercise more, eat better, and sleep eight hours a day, I will simply make a commitment to self-care in whatever form that that may take. Mind you, I am planning to make a list of self-care activities and choices that I can make, but rather than serve as a list of resolutions that I must follow without question, this list will be a reference point, a place to look for hints when I feel that I've lost the thread.

I see resolutions as dangerous for one good reason---they are inevitably broken. If I resolve to swim no less than 60 laps per week, I'll most likely fail half the time. If I resolve to write a blog entry every day, having that verbalized expectation will probably thwart me in my writing process. If I decide to eat absolutely no sugar for the next two months (something that I have done for many months at a time in the past), I also will probably fall on my face (with a mouth full of chocolate to cushion the blow).

My simple solution is to revolutionize my personal resolution process. Today I will generate that list of self-care options, and it will serve as a reminder of what I can do when my wheels are spinning. It is an ongoing process of discovery, and I see the New Year as a perfect time to recharge those self-care batteries.

Many happy returns to you and yours, dear Reader, and may the New Year open its heart to you in gentle and compassionate ways.