No More New Year's Resolutions?
Happy New Year! So once again it is the
beginning of a new year and this time always finds me with mixed feelings.
Part of me spends time looking over the past
year to see what is different and what is still the same. Sometimes I feel
disappointed that many of my plans for the year have not been achieved. I see
myself in the same rut that I believed I was in at this time last year.
But when I can move past that and reflect on
what IS actually different and what I have achieved, I am often pleasantly
surprised.
Unexpected opportunities came along and I
embraced them. I have made small, yet solid, steps toward where I want my life
to be.
I may not have achieved everything I had
planned, but much of what I have achieved was not even on my radar last New
Years.
The world is always presenting us with
opportunities. Success comes from how we respond to these opportunities or
challenges when they are presented to us.
Can we be flexible? Can we take time to be open
to what is happening so that we can see the opportunity behind what may
initially seem like an obstacle?
The second part of me is excited to see what the new year will bring into
my life. At this time of year I am eternally optimistic of what I can achieve
and how much more content I will be at this time next year. Even if I don’t know
what that will look like.
Can I be grateful for what small changes happen in my life? Can I be
flexible and blow in the wind while keeping my roots firmly planted in what is
most important to me? Can I stay in touch with what I value and what is
important to me, rather than constantly molding myself to please others?
Embrace your strengths and see how you can make use of them rather than
focusing on what you can’t do.
Often our dissatisfaction and frustration comes from trying to control the
world and everyone else in it. They usually don’t cooperate because they have
their own agenda.
So instead of setting New Year's resolutions this year, make a promise to
yourself to be open and alert to what the world presents to you and embrace
something new and unexpected. Say yes and see where it might take you?
Before you freak out when something apparently goes wrong or a door seems
to be slammed in your face, step back and look around for what door might be
blown open when that one was closed.
Chinese Legend
There was a wise old man who was considered to be an odd sort of fellow
because of the way he had of looking at things. One day, one of his favourite
horses ran away, and the old man’s friends rushed to console him. “That’s too
bad about your horse,” they said. “We all feel sorry for you.”
“How do you know it’s bad?” asked the old man. A few days later the horse
returned with two beautiful wild horses following him. This brought the
neighbours on the run. “Good! Good!” they exclaimed.
“How do you know it’s good?” said the old man. The next day, while training the two wild horses, the man’s son was thrown, and he fractured his leg. The neighbours came over to commiserate with the old man. “That’s too bad about your son,” they said.
“How do you know this is bad?” said the old man. The very next day a warlord and his army came through the land, conscripting able-bodied young men to fight for them. The son, of course, wasn’t able to go. He had a broken leg.
Moral: It’s neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.
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