New Year's Eve has always been a time for looking back to the past, and more importantly, forward to the coming year. It's a time to reflect on the changes we want (or need) to make and resolve to follow through on those changes. In the light of this beautiful thought, I have identified a set of changes I want to make to myself and a difference to the people around.
Tame the bulge - Over 66 percent of adult Americans are considered overweight or obese by recent studies, so it is not surprising to find that weight loss is one of the most popular New Year's resolutions. However, the statistics in my case are a bit interesting. First of all I am an Indian at heart and secondly I weigh only 152 lbs. I am a little over 5' 8" which sets my lower and upper weight limits to 137 and 171 lbs respectively, the target being 154. Wow, that sounds close :) Now what I need to focus on is not losing weight, but to convert fat to muscle and distribute it evenly throughout. Well, that determines what needs to be changed and there being only a single key to achieve this I resolve to exercise regularly.
Keep learning - This is one thing I want to do just without any reasons. Alright, no lies, I guess it keeps me inspired and motivated, it gives me the driving force for all my thinking, and may be it also gives me a sense of satisfaction and value adddition. I hope I can learn something new each passing moment. Sounds more like a wish than a resolution :) but I'll make my best efforts to grasp things from everyday activities. A simple TV show, a chat with a friend, a discussion with a group, a simple read, a movie... each of these has a lot of potential to teach and there is just so much opportunity out there to learn! I just need to dance with oppurtunity while its still on the dance floor.
Forgive and forget - Forgiving is allowing another person to be human for faults, mistakes, or misdeeds. Forgetting is putting these behind you; they are no longer brought up with no ongoing negative references to the event and no longer remain a barrier to your relationship. I guess everybody knows what it is, its just a matter of accepting it. I am very glad I already have this ability to forgive and forget and I will continue to make it better.
Help others - A theory of physics is called 'The Butterfly Effect". This states that a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world can begin a chain of events in the air around it that causes a hurricane somewhere else on the planet. Like the way an avalanche must begin with a single grain of snow, as just one grain had to be the first. I resolve to volunteer to help people around me. Volunteerism can take many forms. It may come in the form of a few moments I spare from my busy schedule; or if time is in short supply, then donating furniture clothing and other household/personal items I no longer need rather than leaving them out by the curb. It may even come in the simplest form where I just spend a few moments trying to convince someone to help others.
Spread around peace, happiness and love - All the time, every moment of the day, we're in this world and either making it better or making it worse. Because we're all inter-connected, our thoughts spread out and affect everything around us. When we feel bad, we might treat people in an ill-natured or thoughtless way, which can lower their mood, and they might do the same to the next person they meet, and so it carries on. Perhaps, my bad mood could travel through various other minds, fanning out, until it eventually brings one person down enough to cause a family argument, may be in another country! One thing I intend to do to alleviate the precarious position that we are all in is to consciously spread happiness. I want to deliberately radiate happiness outwards. Also, making other people happy is curative in itself. Even if it's hard to make myself happy, making other people happy will distract me from my own mind.
Lastly, I've decided to be more flexible - Despite having set the above goals, I foresee that my plans will skew somewhat from the original. Not that I want them to, I am saying the plans will skew because life has a funny way of throwing unexpected things at us and flexibility is required to complete anything but the simplest goal. Sometimes the goal itself will even change. Most of all, I hope to recognize partial successes at every step along the way. Just as a resolution isn't accomplished the day it's stated, neither is it accomplished the day you reach your goal. Rather, it's accomplished in many small increments along the way. Acknowledging these incremental successes as they come is the way to go in life!
I hope and pray 2008 brings to all of us the best of everything.
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