New Year's Resolution 2019

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New Year’s Resolution

When the clock struck 12:01 on January 1, I wished my loved ones a Happy New Year and shuffled off to bed. But I lay there pondering how the flipping of the calendar from 2018 to 2019 could generate so much excitement and expectation… for change, for progress, for good. It is not unlike pulling out a pristine, white sheet of paper to begin a drawing. There is only potential in that blank space. A pregnant pause fills the air and the artist makes the first mark; the end product still to be determined.

 Perhaps that is why so many people seize upon this day to make New Years’ resolutions. This blank page of a new year holds the promise of a fresh start, a new beginning. It is a chance to re-create ourselves as we envision our better selves to be. (Remember my posts of mid-December: “… the future we create…” ? check out this link for background:
https://creativelifesampler.blogspot.com/2018/12/museums-source-of-inspiration-3-of-3-of.html)

And yet, how quickly we can lose sight of our best intentions. Samuel Johnson, who published his impressive A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755 after 9 years of effort, candidly pointed out: “Every man naturally persuades himself that he can keep his resolutions, nor is he convinced of his imbecility but by length of time and frequency of experiment.”

We might conclude that in those 9 years Johnson's resolve to compile this significant work may have wavered and caused him to question his sanity. But he clearly stuck with it, and went on to make other meaningful contributions to English literature. Maybe his ultimate life lesson was that it doesn't matter how many times our resolve waxes and wanes, making a resolution is not futile. There’s always the hope of creating something better of ourselves,... for ourselves,... maybe for the world.

When you think about it, January 1 is really no more or less than any new month, hour, minute, or second. Every increment of time holds infinite possibilities and potential for growth. So, if we slip up in one moment, we have the next minute. If we fall short of goals one hour/day there will be the following hour/day for a new beginning. This is the activity of creating "one's world". It's a process independent of the ticking of a clock or a calendar change.

May you have many such moments of opportunity to improve. And after you have made your marks to fill up that empty page, may you find that your future has arrived,... and that the end product is really something you are happy to behold.


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