“I am still learning.” – Michelangelo
Even though the
notion is a bit cliché, I am a big fan of the New Year’s resolution. They are a
way to note where we are, decide
where we’d like to be and set a course in that direction.
Some resolutions remain perpetually on my
list, partly because I never quite pull them off and partly because they’re
just such good ideas. These include: drink more water, drink less wine; eat
less meat, eat more fiber; exercise more, watch TV less, go outside; read, find
ways to keep my mind in shape; clean the house thoroughly, get organized.
Next are the self-reproach-based resolutions
which include things like: listen more, talk less; be less judgmental; reduce
the clutter, live more simply, work towards a “greener” lifestyle; do more
sit-ups, commit to cardio at least three times a week; lose weight; worry less,
laugh more; don’t sweat the small stuff, it’s all small stuff…you get the
idea.
Lastly, I ponder
the intangible resolutions: find joy; be at peace; have more fun; be kinder and
gentler; give more, expect less; keep the faith; let go, let God…that type of
thing.
Year after year I make the same resolutions
and while progress is being made, it’s in baby steps, not leaps and bounds. Feeling
successful about resolutions helps us keep working towards them and since so
many of mine are like library books I keep renewing, but never quite finish, I recently
decided to start viewing them in a different way. From here on out, my resolutions
will become processes.
Drinking more water (and less wine) as a
process is do-able; it doesn’t present like a challenge needing to be met, so
much as simply something to do each day. It’s the same with the other diet and
health resolutions – eating less meat and more veggies, exercising more, sitting
less, losing weight, and committing to weekly cardio don’t sound nearly as
scary when they’re simply “maintaining a healthy lifestyle.”
Getting the house cleaned and organized? If
I do something along these lines each day, the process is underway…The same
with reducing the clutter and working towards a “greener” lifestyle. The City
of Winder provides me with a big bin and free recycling; if I just read the
mail as it comes in and trash or recycle it, along with my beverage and food cans,
stray cardboard boxes, etc. I’m headed down the path…
Finding joy and
being at peace don’t seem so intangible when all I’m committing to is a couple
of yoga classes each week. As for worrying less, laughing more and having more fun -
not sweating the small stuff and it’s all small stuff is probably the process.
There’s something about “resolutions” that
is destined to fail. Like bad companions, they’re big, loud and lofty, so full
of themselves they don’t really care how you and the long term work out. Quiet
process, on the other hand, just keeps on ticking like a chill version of a
Timex watch or a Zen version of the Ever Ready Bunny.
I’m going to bet that being kinder and
gentler, giving more, expecting less and keeping the faith begin to unfold in
our hearts easier when we’re on the process path of letting go and letting God,
each and every day, whenever a challenge large or small appears.
Like
resolutions, the process of self-growth is ongoing and can loom larger than
life. It’s easier to imagine myself enjoying a ripe tomato, just picked from the
vine, while standing in the middle of my recently weeded garden, than it is to
imagine myself obtaining personal peace and lasting calm while meditating on a
mat…Process, do-able steps, one after the other…as George Sand said, “The old
woman I shall become will be quite different from the woman I am now. Another I
is beginning.” 2014 may be a very good year…
No comments:
Post a Comment