Do Your Resolutions Have Heart?

I always like to write a blog half way into the first month of the new year to see how everyone is doing on the commitments they just signed on for. It is amazing how important we think our resolutions are until we are face to face with the work of maintaining them!

I recently read the Steve Jobs biography which not only did I love but which also got me back in touch with many of the ideologies that drove my thinking in my late teens and twenties - the late 60's and early 70's. I have been rereading some seminal books of that time like Autobiography of a Yogi, The Teachings of Don Juan - A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, and some old nutrition books by Arnold Ehret that I have saved.

I came across a passage in The Teachings of Don Juan that spoke to me. Of course I am in a different place now than I was 40 years ago when I first read the book, but good books have a way of evoking new meaning no matter how many time you reread them.

Don Juan, the aging the sorcerer says, "My benefactor told me about it once when I was young, and my blood was too vigorous for me to understand. Now I do understand it. I will tell you what it is: Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long, long paths, but I am not anywhere. My benefactor's question has meaning now. Does the path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you."

So ask yourself now, "Do your resolutions have heart?'" Your answer may help explain why you are or not keeping them.

The Holidays are Here

Before you start indulging with reckless abandon, take a moment now to think about your New Year's resolutions. If they relate to diet, weight, exercise, and fitness or general well being, then "Whoa Nelly."

Hold on tight, grab a pen and paper (remember those), and start writing down what you want to be when the new year rolls in:

1. Thinner
2. Fitter
3. More in control
4. Full of vitality
5. A non smoker
6. ......... (fill in the blank)

Notice there is no "Happy" on the list. Happiness is not a state in itself but comes from other actions like being committed, having purpose, feeling good, helping others, and reaching your goals (whatever they may be), to name just a few. There is no right or wrong here.

Of course if you can just stay in the present moment you will happy because you are not thinking about anything but the moment! Staying present is a very tough exercise especially with a Blackberry buzzing in your pocket.

Back to making what you want happen. Creating a vision is the first step to achieving success in any endeavor. You've got to really want whatever it is you want to achieve and you have to envision it before you can have it.

Once the desire is there, you make a plan. Then the work begins. Having a plan and not sticking to it won't get you there. That does not mean you can't be flexible and revise the plan as you go along. Also no plan is perfect. You don't have to do things 100% to see results. You just have to do your plan well enough that the old ways that were not working are replaced with actions that work.

It sounds simple but it is really hard. You may have to continually do battle with yourself until the new behaviors take on a life of their own. When this happens, the endorphins that flow from feeling happy (meaning achieving your goals) motivate you to keep going. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

So go for it now and use this month as a laboratory for what you want to create in the coming year.