jeudi 23 janvier 2014

January isn't over yet, so... a belated post about resolutions


There's a blogpost about New Year's resolutions that I started writing at the beginning of January with the intention of posting it for all to see. And then, it landed in the "unfinished" folder.

 Resolutions can be hot air intentions. When January 1rst comes around, I think: "why, yes! Of course! I must write the masterpiece of my life this year!". It then dawns on me that such a project would require tremendous work, great emotional availability, iron discipline and probably last more than a year. So I scale down to "maybe if I wrote posts on my blog more often, that would be a good start..." or "maybe if I wrote every day for an hour, that would be the starting point for writing projects to develop". These thoughts sound more reasonable and may happen. Hopefully.

Although they're fickle, resolutions still have a special place in my heart. They make me pause and think about what I need to do to feel more in tune with who I am on a daily basis. Resolutions help me dream about projects and think about what it takes to accomplish those dreams. I wouldn't like resolutions if none of them came to fruition, if they were all full of hot air and nothing else. Fortunately, there are some wishful thoughts that amount to concrete results when they're taken seriously. From being ideas, they become actions. 

Two very classic resolutions have nagged at me this year: weight loss and exercise.  At first, I thought that they were of the "hot-air" type and that I would soon forget about them, go back to my old habits and not worry too much until next year (or this summer). But fortunately, I have been listening to myself. And I'm starting to change little things, really small things, that could lead me in the right direction. I try to be a bit more aware of what I eat and when, I drink more water and I will start going to a dance class next week. That's it. That's all I can do right now, and I don't intend on doing a smoothie detox or running every day. But eating more thoughtfully and dancing, that I can do.

I've also been realizing that I have possibly benefited from other people's resolutions. In early January, a friend called and asked if we were  available to go for a walk in the woods. Before calling us, this friend may have been thinking about the New Year and what it implied. She perhaps formulated a few thoughts like: "this year, I want to see friends more often" and "this year, I want to go for walks in nature". This may have led her to pick up her phone, which in turn led us to leave our cosy appartments and have a great time. We came across a lake and saw flocks of geese, ducks, water hens and even a heron and a cormorant!

I like seeing wishes becoming intentional acts. So here's to a New Year filled with great intentional actions!

... and, more blogposts.

Cheers!



1 commentaire:

Anonyme a dit…

"Intentional Actions". I like that and will try to make a few of my own!
Mom