Resolution to Take Action

This New Year's make a resolution to take action. Don't just come up with a wish-list, come up with a list of outcomes with practical applications of how to reach them.

The yearly ritual we have earned as Spiritual Beings is a privilege. The hunters and the gatherers didn't have the luxury of sitting around thinking of what they would change when the seasons change; theirs was a life of instinct and survival. In today's world we have the luxury to aim at more than feeding ourselves, more than getting through the winter until the next growing season, more than just survival of the species.

In today's world we have the luxury to think about the Great Spirit, the Universe, God and how we came to be where we are. This luxury gives us the opportunity to strive toward higher consciousness, to live a life beyond ourselves, to do more than survive, to participate in the Whole, to contribute to the Greater Good, to live our highest destinies.

So the ability to make a resolution is more than a casual look, and some goals to be tossed aside. Here is the opportunity to grow out of your skin and into your heart. Here is the chance to change the things in your life that don't work, to exchange them for things that do.

But do it right. Today, tomorrow, this week, next month - whenever you decide to embrace change, embrace it with the willingness to see it through. Do it for yourself. Do it out of love.

Here's how: determine what you want the outcomes to be and then write down truly viable ways of achieving those outcomes. It's easiest if you break it down into little chunks, rather than give yourself huge and overwhelming goals. "I will get rid of 10 pieces of paper (10 pieces of clutter, 10 cobwebs, 10 piles) per week (per month)." "I will lose 2 pounds a week." "I will exercise vigorously for 7 minutes twice a day."

Give yourself the opportunity to change in smaller bits, so that your psyche has the chance to change with you. Change isn't easy - there is a reason why you do things the way you do them - there is a payoff and that payoff feels safe, even if it is unhealthy. But if you allow yourself to change small, change slowly, and change consistently, you give yourself time to try out something new without it being threatening.

So, when you next make a resolution, be it tonight for New Year's, on your birthday or any other time, make a resolution to take action and give yourself the chance to really experience a life that is happier, healthier and more wholesome, give yourself the chance to be joyful.

Happy New Year!

Blessings.
- Darshan

© 2008 Darshan F Jessop