Resolutions………..
And here comes a New Year With a lot of hopes, dreams and unwritten promises. Recalling the first day of the passing year made me surprise that, how 2010 passed away swiftly, despite of many twist and turns many ups and downs many laughs and cries. This reminds me of a nice saying, “If LIFE can be summed up in 3 words then that would be ‘IT GOES ON’”.
Many among us will welcome this new year with crackers, parties or outings, and many will welcome it silently. But most of us must have planned to have a different life from the beginning of the year and carry forward that way of living for a better and more sensible future. These plans are what we call New Year resolutions and this is all I am going to put some light upon.
I came up with the idea to write this when one of my friend asked me “Tell me five things you don’t like in me and I will change it from new year !!!!” and suddenly there was a temptation in me to ask, “Even if I tell five things I don’t like in you, You will replace them with what ????” . It’s an irony of nature that you can’t have vacuum inside you. When you try to throw something out of you, you must be ready to replace it with something else or the old thing will keep on returning. That one idea made me realize why most of us fail to achieve or fulfill our New Year resolutions or goals!!!!!!!!
During the Vietnam War when Mother Teresa was asked to join the rally against WAR, she refused to do so by saying “I will not march against WAR, but if you march for peace I will surely be there”. The simple yet powerful truth behind her unwillingness to march against war is, In LIFE whatever we resist the most will persist the most. More often we end up losing our energy and enthusiasm but fighting against the evil whereas we can use that energy for supporting the good.
Remember that in life instead of being against of something bad, it’s always possible that you can be in for of something good. Instead of being against war you can be for peace, Instead of hating someone you can love someone else, instead of fearing the failures you can be in for of the successful outcomes and many more. And this factor decides the success of your goals.
I bet, that most of us decide our new year resolutions in a negative way, such as “I will quit smoking from Jan 1st” or “I will stop eating junk food from new year” or “I will stop behaving rudely to others” or “I won’t waste my time” or “I will not have conflicts with my loved ones” or “I will not talk a lot” etc.. This reminds me of a funny story about how our mind conceives the inputs.
Once two kids decided to climb a tree to see who can reach the top, both of them climbed and successfully reached the top. They decided to sit there for few moments to enjoy the view of the setting sun. Suddenly the weather changed and the wind started blowing. With passing of time it became stronger and stronger!!! Terrified by the unpredictable situation both the kids started crying for help. Both their fathers came in for rescue, yet in vain, as it was too risky to climb up the tree or to ask the boys to come down in the fierce wind. Then one father said to his son “SON, HOLD THE TREE TIGHTLY!!!!!!!!” and the other said to his “SON, MAKE SURE YOU DON’T FALL”. Alas the second kid fell from the tree yet the first one managed till the wind was over!!!!!! So what made the difference?? Didn’t the second boy want to be safe??? YES OF COURSE!
The difference was the inputs provided by their parents. When the first person told his son to hold the tree tightly, the kid’s brain processed the information and made him imagine holding the tree tightly and
nothing else, so he survived. But when the second person told his son to make sure not to fall, the kid’s brain made him see what falling is and what the possible outcome of the falling are and then next what should he do to prevent falling!!! And by the time his mind came up with a solution he has already fallen. STRANGE!! Right?
Ok let me give you an exercise, just close your eyes for next 15 seconds and try not to imagine a
WHITE ELEPHANT. Just try it for once before continue reading.
Did you try?? Did you observe anything? You must have seen a WHITE ELEPHANT again and again, but all I asked you is not to imagine a white elephant. Did you think of taking a different approach of seeing something else so that you can stop seeing the WHITE ELEPHANT?? Instead of not trying to see a white elephant you could have tried to see a white rabbit or a beautiful rainbow or a red rose etc. FUNNY right??
Exactly the same thing happens with our resolutions and Goals. When you say yourself again and again that “I will stop eating junk food from new year” your mind first makes the picture of yours as eating your favorite junk food like pizza, burger etc... Eventually it becomes harder for you to imagine you as not eating junk foods as in your mind you would be having the picture of yourself of eating those high calorie foods. Finally you would end up quitting the idea to quit eating junk food. The same happens with quitting smoking or not behaving rudely to others or not fighting with your loved ones or not talking a lot or any habit or behavior you want to change in yourself.
So instead of saying “I will quit smoking for Jan 1st” you can say “I will start making my lungs healthier from Jan 1st”. Instead of saying “I will stop eating junk food from new year” you can say “I will start eating more green vegetables, more salads more fiber rich foods from new year “or “I will start behaving kind to others with more pleasant voice and more caring attitude” or “I will make the best use of every moment of my time as LIFE is time and time is LIFE” or “I will have a best caring and full of understanding relationship with my loved ones” or “I will be a good communicator by becoming a patient and good listener”. To feel the difference you can compare these resolutions with the previous ones.
Remember that instead of resisting something you don’t like start supporting something opposite you like and that is all it takes to shift the LIFE.
If this would help you making a positive impact in your LIFE or motivating you to think in a new dimension, no matter how small and no matter in any area of LIFE such as health, relations, work etc. Then that would be the best New Year Gift I would ever have.
May the coming year bring Joy, Happiness, Prosperity, Health and wealth to you and your family. May you achieve all your positive goals. Wish you and your family a very very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011.
And here comes a New Year With a lot of hopes, dreams and unwritten promises. Recalling the first day of the passing year made me surprise that, how 2010 passed away swiftly, despite of many twist and turns many ups and downs many laughs and cries. This reminds me of a nice saying, “If LIFE can be summed up in 3 words then that would be ‘IT GOES ON’”.
Many among us will welcome this new year with crackers, parties or outings, and many will welcome it silently. But most of us must have planned to have a different life from the beginning of the year and carry forward that way of living for a better and more sensible future. These plans are what we call New Year resolutions and this is all I am going to put some light upon.
I came up with the idea to write this when one of my friend asked me “Tell me five things you don’t like in me and I will change it from new year !!!!” and suddenly there was a temptation in me to ask, “Even if I tell five things I don’t like in you, You will replace them with what ????” . It’s an irony of nature that you can’t have vacuum inside you. When you try to throw something out of you, you must be ready to replace it with something else or the old thing will keep on returning. That one idea made me realize why most of us fail to achieve or fulfill our New Year resolutions or goals!!!!!!!!
During the Vietnam War when Mother Teresa was asked to join the rally against WAR, she refused to do so by saying “I will not march against WAR, but if you march for peace I will surely be there”. The simple yet powerful truth behind her unwillingness to march against war is, In LIFE whatever we resist the most will persist the most. More often we end up losing our energy and enthusiasm but fighting against the evil whereas we can use that energy for supporting the good.
Remember that in life instead of being against of something bad, it’s always possible that you can be in for of something good. Instead of being against war you can be for peace, Instead of hating someone you can love someone else, instead of fearing the failures you can be in for of the successful outcomes and many more. And this factor decides the success of your goals.
I bet, that most of us decide our new year resolutions in a negative way, such as “I will quit smoking from Jan 1st” or “I will stop eating junk food from new year” or “I will stop behaving rudely to others” or “I won’t waste my time” or “I will not have conflicts with my loved ones” or “I will not talk a lot” etc.. This reminds me of a funny story about how our mind conceives the inputs.
Once two kids decided to climb a tree to see who can reach the top, both of them climbed and successfully reached the top. They decided to sit there for few moments to enjoy the view of the setting sun. Suddenly the weather changed and the wind started blowing. With passing of time it became stronger and stronger!!! Terrified by the unpredictable situation both the kids started crying for help. Both their fathers came in for rescue, yet in vain, as it was too risky to climb up the tree or to ask the boys to come down in the fierce wind. Then one father said to his son “SON, HOLD THE TREE TIGHTLY!!!!!!!!” and the other said to his “SON, MAKE SURE YOU DON’T FALL”. Alas the second kid fell from the tree yet the first one managed till the wind was over!!!!!! So what made the difference?? Didn’t the second boy want to be safe??? YES OF COURSE!
The difference was the inputs provided by their parents. When the first person told his son to hold the tree tightly, the kid’s brain processed the information and made him imagine holding the tree tightly and
nothing else, so he survived. But when the second person told his son to make sure not to fall, the kid’s brain made him see what falling is and what the possible outcome of the falling are and then next what should he do to prevent falling!!! And by the time his mind came up with a solution he has already fallen. STRANGE!! Right?
Ok let me give you an exercise, just close your eyes for next 15 seconds and try not to imagine a
WHITE ELEPHANT. Just try it for once before continue reading.
Did you try?? Did you observe anything? You must have seen a WHITE ELEPHANT again and again, but all I asked you is not to imagine a white elephant. Did you think of taking a different approach of seeing something else so that you can stop seeing the WHITE ELEPHANT?? Instead of not trying to see a white elephant you could have tried to see a white rabbit or a beautiful rainbow or a red rose etc. FUNNY right??
Exactly the same thing happens with our resolutions and Goals. When you say yourself again and again that “I will stop eating junk food from new year” your mind first makes the picture of yours as eating your favorite junk food like pizza, burger etc... Eventually it becomes harder for you to imagine you as not eating junk foods as in your mind you would be having the picture of yourself of eating those high calorie foods. Finally you would end up quitting the idea to quit eating junk food. The same happens with quitting smoking or not behaving rudely to others or not fighting with your loved ones or not talking a lot or any habit or behavior you want to change in yourself.
So instead of saying “I will quit smoking for Jan 1st” you can say “I will start making my lungs healthier from Jan 1st”. Instead of saying “I will stop eating junk food from new year” you can say “I will start eating more green vegetables, more salads more fiber rich foods from new year “or “I will start behaving kind to others with more pleasant voice and more caring attitude” or “I will make the best use of every moment of my time as LIFE is time and time is LIFE” or “I will have a best caring and full of understanding relationship with my loved ones” or “I will be a good communicator by becoming a patient and good listener”. To feel the difference you can compare these resolutions with the previous ones.
Remember that instead of resisting something you don’t like start supporting something opposite you like and that is all it takes to shift the LIFE.
If this would help you making a positive impact in your LIFE or motivating you to think in a new dimension, no matter how small and no matter in any area of LIFE such as health, relations, work etc. Then that would be the best New Year Gift I would ever have.
May the coming year bring Joy, Happiness, Prosperity, Health and wealth to you and your family. May you achieve all your positive goals. Wish you and your family a very very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment