New Year’s Resolutions
The marking of a new year offers us promise and hope of something better, something healthier, something new, something more.
The problem is, of course, that most New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by January 20. But your beloved pastor, ever the optimist, thinks that we as a parish and as individuals can buck that trend. Why do I think we can? Well, because I did it and if I can do it, ANYBODY CAN!
I used to be off and on with physical exercise. I was never in terrible shape (by the way, round is a shape) but I was always in- consistent with work out habits. It always took a back seat in my life. Now, I am proud to say (pride is still a sin), I have made my work out goals for over two years straight and I have been consistently working out for the last five years.
What made the difference? I purchased an Apple Watch. (A healthy fear of falling apart and dying also helped.) With my watch (it needn’t be Apple, any device or external plan could work) I can monitor my activity and most of all, I can remind myself that I am not moving. I get little rewards – badges – for completing tasks. And although it is quite inane and frivolous, I get a kick out of achieving them.
Here’s a plan for change…
- Change is easier when you selectively focus your efforts. Don’t try to do everything, pick a single small change and work on
- To change you must adopt an appropriate long-range perspective. I was determined to make my goal for 365 days, now I am almost afraid to
- Change requires that you persist even when your efforts are having no apparent effect other than making you feel disrupted, inconvenienced, and bothered. There have been plenty of days when I have to walk around my room to get my active calories. I felt stupid, but I did it and it
- Chaos and setbacks are proof that you are changing. Don’t worry about failing, worry about completely stopping. Mu- hammed Ali once said: You don’t lose if you get knocked down, you lose if you stay down.
- You cannot change the past. When I am counseling people, I often tell them that I can solve their issues for them. It is simple, I explain: fetch me a TIME .MACHINE. It is then that they understand that the past is the past and we just need to move on into the future.
- The problem is not, has never been, and never will be who you are. The problem is always what you choose to do.
- Change requires that you become fully engaged for a period of contemplation, preparation, and decisive action, followed by continuing maintenance. It also helps if you include others in this process to keep you both realistic and
- Change is not something that happens to you, it is something you do.
- Change is a learning process, you learn to do some things differently. It took an Apple Watch for me, I don’t know what that will be for.
- 10 Failure is necessary for learning. We need to stop this nonsense about failure. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, who was and is a success, failed at some point in their lives. Just pick yourself up and go forward.
Good luck as you enter into 2022. And if you need motivation, give me a call and I will give you a good swift kick – spirit- ually speaking of course…