Embracing Possibility: Creating a New Year
By Regina Leeds

Now my best friend Susie would tell you, if she were with me today, that New Year’s Resolutions just don’t work. She doesn’t make them. She doesn’t believe in them. She’s my personal New Year’s Scrooge. And, to be fair, she has a point. If your Resolutions never move from a vague intention or an item on a list, they will indeed languish in the land of wishful thinking. There is a way, however to make them reality. And that involves a little ‘zen organizing’ and some old-fashioned elbow grease. I’d like to break the process down for you and then you can decide whether those are wishes or goals you’ve written down.

Well, first off, it’s clear you need to write down your Resolutions. Saying them is never going to be as powerful as seeing them in print. OK. Why don’t you get a nice clean sheet of paper, say the standard 8 1/2 by 11, not a tiny scrap of paper or a corner of your current planner. Maybe you have a Journal you use expressly for the purpose of planning your life. That’s an ideal place to record your Resolutions. And be sure and get your favorite pen or pencil. You would be surprised how important these seemingly mundane elements are. This is a way of showing respect for the things you hope to achieve.

OK. To start, just go for it. Make a list of all the things you’d like to accomplish this year. Don’t hold back. A typical list would have some of these items:

• Lose weight
• Stop smoking
• Eliminate coffee
• Start exercise program
• Get married
• Give up sugar
• Have a child
• Become a vegetarian
• Travel more
• Eliminate alcohol
• Learn to meditate
• Go to service regularly at your church, synagogue or mosque.

One year in late December, I was watching the local news. I was at once amused and touched by a man who was asked if he had any New Year’s Resolutions. He said: “Well, I guess I’d like to get married and make a million dollars this year.” He was the poster boy for my friend Susie’s anti Resolution campaign!

Why? Well, first off, he had no commitment to these statements. They just sounded good. I mean, who wouldn’t want to make their first million in the New Year? What was missing was any kind of a plan. Remember: everything breaks down into its component parts. Once you know the parts, you can create a plan of action.

Let’s see if you can’t break your list down by creating categories of related Resolutions. For example, if you give up coffee , alcohol, sugar and stop smoking, you are automatically going to be healthier and any exercise program will be easier, won’t it? We could say these Resolutions are all under the Banner of ‘Get Healthy.’

Take a minute now to see how many master categories you can create from the list of Resolutions you jotted down. As you look over your list, feel free to cross some off. Now that could mean that you cross them off for this year or it could mean that you are going to put them on hold until you achieve a few higher priority items. If I needed to lose weight, for example, it might behoove me to wait and join that singles group after I get in shape. Thus my goal of getting married this year is put on hold for a few short months while I improve my health.

Right about now you should start to feel more in control. It isn’t the entire list you have to tackle on January 1st, it’s just one category at a time. And within each category, you need only devote yourself to one or two challenges at a time. Instead of overwhelming yourself, why not start slow and build on your success? There’s a reason babies crawl before they can walk!

Every goal is the sum of its parts. Let’s look at a Resolution most of us have on our list. Need to lose weight? What will it take? You’ll want to eat less, eat better and exercise. Eating less may involve will power, it also means planning meals and making smaller amounts. Eating better might involve spending an afternoon at the local bookstore investigating cookbooks. As for exercise, what type of exercise best suits your age and current level of health and conditioning? Do you like to be outdoors or are you a team sport personality? Would you like something slow and gentle like yoga or is this your chance to master some karate?

See how this works?

I want to close with a suggestion. Take a minute to sit quietly and mediate or think about these goals. Ask yourself this question: are these Resolutions products of my ego? Or are these things my Soul would have me accomplish. You be surprised how much power and direction you’ll have if you elevate your perspective. After all, the real purpose of any resolution is to help consciously create the life you want.