The mixed bag of joy and stress often associated with Christmas has come and gone. But with New Year’s Eve just days away is there a new source of holiday angst looming?
Like most people, you’re probably contemplating New Year resolutions. Common themes include eating less, exercising more, finishing writing that book, quitting smoking, etc. Everyone makes them. Some of us might last a month; some, a week, others, backslide on day one. Yet knowing how hard it is to make them stick, we bravely make our pronouncements knowing full well the futility they likely come to.
It just seems to be how it goes. We create a focused mindset around something we want to do or change, but then a couple days in, it just seems to be too much. Not worth the trouble. Pass the chocolate milk carton, another beer, the cigarette, the...
There’s an old adage, “It’s easy to quit (insert your own personal vice here). I do it all the time.” But, what then, is the one thing that sets apart action and intention? When do we really do something "for good”? I think it is when we don’t set an arbitrary deadline, when we’re not challenged by an absolute. I say, forget New Year’s Resolutions! People make changes when they’re ready to.
Many people quit something after receiving “shakti” - a defining moment of received bliss when the heart cracks open and the world is changed forever. This moment can come standing on the mountaintop or lying in the gutter. Enlightenment lurks everywhere. It might be an “ah-hah” moment from a teacher. It might be a traumatic experience. Suddenly, one is ready for a behavioral change that is unshakeable. A new way of being that will never desert them.
This New Year, resolve to not make a resolution. Rather, be open to receiving a change and proceed with a confidence that needs no pronouncement. The best resolution is to not set a resolution. We, at Buddha Pants, invite you to let life unfold. Allow yourself to be the flow of your own process of change.
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