Old Aquaintance...

What’s your resolution? To get in shape? To call Mom more often? Have you pledged to quit a particular vice? My resolution is simple. I’m not going to make one.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want to improve myself or my lifestyle. It simply means that I’m not about to make a once-a-year promise that will be broken in a few weeks. If it takes that long. We’ve all seen the routine before. The gym will be packed until mid-January. By March, you’ll be able to throw a dumbbell across the place without fear of hitting more than a couple of others. The February air will chill smokers as they crowd the exits and open-air escapes at the office once again. And soon, you’ll delete a message from your mother – for the third or fourth time – and promise yourself you’ll call her on the weekend.

Why do we do it? Why do we seem to make the same resolutions year after year but still fail to keep them?

I think it’s because we’re looking at the symptoms rather than the cause of whatever is ailing us. We ignore the imbalances in our lives. If we keep up the same habits and make the usual choices, except for that one little thing, then how can we not be doomed to failure? Putting a bandage on a cut won’t solve the long-term problem unless we stop playing with sharp objects. I believe our resolutions boil down to the same thing. A family member posted the following words of Einstein on the internet recently: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” We tend to perpetuate our circumstances by concentrating most of our effort and emphasis into familiarities, throwing off our inner equilibrium.

No one besides you can tell you what your underlying ‘ailment’ is, or how deep you need to go to find it. But, if you don’t take the time to really investigate the matter, anything you do will likely be a fruitless exercise.

2009 was a year of highs and lows for me. I have made some major changes over the last few months and I am looking forward with great anticipation to 2010, but it’s not just a resolution. The fact that these moves coincide with the new year is not the point. I won’t get into the fine details here, but what is important, is that I’ve decided my happiness, and my family’s, is beyond price. The adjustments I’ve made will, I believe, help to improve and maintain the balance that happiness depends upon.

So, instead of making a fleeting resolution, I hope that I’ve taken steps toward a positive evolution – one that fosters greater balance.