Hari
Om
'Freedays' are the 'gather our thoughts' days;
Q&As; a general review of the week so far…
Here
we are, already a week into 2016. On many a blog there are posts displaying
'resolutions/ goals/wishes' for the year, in keeping with a tradition that began
many centuries ago (according to the great library in the cloud!) in Babylonia.
Essentially a spiritual process, the 'resolution' activity has become largely
secular; almost all which have been read recently involve health and fitness,
finance and contain elements of a desire for improved social involvement.
All
good. What has also been observed, however, is that there are marked
differences in approach to the process.
Many seem somewhat… numinous, with little chance of fruition. There are a few
for which, one feels, many of the 'resolutions' will
be achieved, due to the modesty of the goal, the intention behind it and the
sense that the writer/s are entirely capable of following through.
This
is what needs to be remembered. Quite a few of the posts remarked that they
were not 'doing resolutions' because they felt that this implied failure; but
it has perhaps been missed that the very word itself means to make a firm
decision to alter one's behaviour in order to attain a certain outcome. To have
resolve is to be determined in ones' thoughts and deeds. To make New Year
Resolutions, then, is to set goals of improved behaviour within ourselves with
a personal commitment to carry them out, so that we can expect a raising of our
nature and, consequently, a betterment of our circumstances. This process, it
must be said, can be carried out each and every day and does not necessarily
have to wait for a single point in any given twelve months!
The
tradition, related to the threshold of one year into another, is certainly a
good marker. Sitting down and making a small ritual at the close of the old
year of preparing oneself mentally for the new one is quite a healthy mental
activity.
No
matter how it is approached, the aim is to make one or more goals which are
within reach. Wishes are all good and well and may indeed be for things such as
peace and harmony within the family, community, nation… but at all these
levels, peace and harmony do not happen by the wishing alone - there must be resolve to be the first one setting the
example of the change which is desired.
Someone
rather famous said that once… &*>
Peace
and harmony begin within the individual. A sufficient number of individuals
living out the actuality of these things will result in a peaceable and
harmonious existence.
Conversely,
if every individual says "I wish…", but then does nothing to
contribute to the manifestation of that desire, things will only remain the
same - or worsen. How worsen? Many who stay in the 'wish' category are also
often those who have the expectation that the external environment ought to
change without any effort from themselves and to support them in established,
albeit very negative, behaviours. Such hypocrisy is one of the greatest
pitfalls of the personality.
One
of the best and most achievable of goals is the resolve to learn at least one
new thing each and every day. The next goal is to resolve to utilise what is
learned by application in life. This can be as mundane as learning that to open
a blister pack of batteries, the use of a can opener can save the fingers from
damage, all the way up to reading a philosophical passage or some scriptural
verses and pondering the wisdom contained therein, then seeking to utilise the
increased understanding in our daily interaction. This is the original source
of 'resolutions', and arguably, the only kind required for all other goals to
come to fruition. It is in the improvement and enlargement of our personality
that we become stronger and more focused and, therefore, capable of working
through the things which will indeed raise our nature and better our
circumstance.
Wishing
you all the very best and blessings with your own NYRs!