Don't Make Resolutions go for Transformation

As the New Year draws to an end, I have been in a place of reflection and have been reflected upon as well. So many things have happened in a year that has sped by faster than I can dare to remember. The older I get, the more life seems to become a swirling mass of time, a cyclonic movement, a myriad of experiences towards something more tangible and greater than. For me life has been an exciting, interesting and insightful journey taking me to places where previously only my dreams existed. 2008 kicked in for me two weeks ago on that roller coaster of a ride which many people leave until 1st January has and is already taking me into a phenomenon place. The progression of another great journey towards an even bigger destination.

An online dictionary described the word journey as thus:

· “journey a traveling from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time; trip: a six-day journey across the desert.
· a distance, course, or area travelled or suitable for travelling: a desert journey”

So there we have it again, that word “journey” which is being and has being used and over-used time and time again. Yet its significance in terms of summing up life seems quite apt because on any journey, there will be ups and downs, experiences which we sometimes wish had never occurred and others which will be pleasantly steeped in our memories forever.

So I am wishing you all a truly wonderful and prosperous New Year where all your dreams can come true. So many people will be making New Year’ s resolutions. Many will follow through, yet most, will falter by the end of the month, regressing back into old ways, thoughts and behaviour patterns. The word “resolution” too is often over used and I think misunderstood or even mis-interpreted. Actually, I think the word “resolution” is a word which has become cheapened, loosing its true meaning, and just being a word to use at a certain time of year because it has come to be expected that in January one must make a resolution.
Dictionary.com’s definitions of the word are:

1. to come to a definite or earnest decision about; determine (to do something): I have resolved that I shall live to the full.
2. to separate into constituent or elementary parts; break up; cause or disintegrate (usually fol. by into).
3. to convert or transform by any process (often used reflexively)”.

Making a resolution sounds almost as if one is being forced or coerced to do something, so final that it looses its sense of purpose. When we decide to make changes in our lives, it has to be about transformation, even evolution. It is about taking a dream, a situation, a thought an idea and wanting to do something different or even bigger with it. It is about wanting to take that situation from the place it is now to eventually a better place. It is about looking at the bigger picture, the end result and realising that whatever it is you want to achieve, or whatever place it is that you need to get to, it is going to take determination, belief, action and maybe even sacrifice and it should be about reaching that rainbow at the end of the tunnel. Transformation is not just about the here and now, a short transitionary period where results are brief and dreams fade away back into the past of the last year. Think about a caterpillar and how that transforms into a beautiful butterfly and how that process can never go back to its original form. Think about your dreams, your New Year’s “Resolutions” from that point of view and if you can visualise that beautiful vision, then you are well on your way to making something incredibly wonderful in whatever you choose to transform.

Wishing you a truly wonderful New Year