New Year's revolutionc

Revolution versus Resolution    Every year we make resolutions.    "This is the year that I will…"   "I'm finally going to kick my habit of…"   "I know I didn't do it last year, but this year will be different."   We always make these resolutions, but seldom do we keep them for the whole year or even for more than a few days.  Today is the fifth day of the New Year and I bet there are people who have already failed to live up to their resolutions.  In fact, in our culture the idea of a New Year's resolution has become synonymous with failure.  So I propose a new idea.  I propose that we adopt instead New Year's revolutions.   What is a New Year's revolution?  And how is it different from a resolution?   The difference is that in a New Year's resolution we are making external goals but we lack the internal change to accomplish them.  A New Year's revolution is an inside out approach to changing your life.  For example, many people make it their goal to lose weight.  They go on a diet and soon it becomes too much and they go off the diet.  Instead I would propose that you form a new lifestyle, one you can adopt permanently for the rest of your life.  Incorporate exercise into your daily or weekly routines.  Start changing your eating habits a little at a time.  Cut down on portion sizes.  Celebrate when you are able to say no to something bad for you like soda, and when you add new, healthy things to your plate like vegetables.  But we are still talking in externals.  What is the internal problem at the root of your resolution.  You are unhappy with your weight but you are not willing to change your lifestyle.  This is an instance of cognitive dissonance.  For whatever reason, you are eating foods that lead you to have a higher weight than you desire.  For whatever the reason, you are not exercising enough to be in the shape you desire.  Your current way of life results in an outcome you don't like.  If you want to be happy with yourself, you have two choices.  You must either accept your weight as it is or change your lifestyle in a way that will alter that weight.  For me personally I value health very highly so I don't see the former as an option.  But either way, it takes an internal change.  If you cannot bring yourself to change your eating and exercising habits, then you must look within yourself and learn to accept your body as it is.  If you are not willing to accept your body as it is, then you must find within yourself the discipline, the strength to exercise when you don't feel like it, to say no to that second helping of mashed potatoes.  You cannot just resolve to do something.  You must thoroughly examine yourself and revolt against your own ways of thinking and acting that are at the root of your goal.  The biggest enemy is you, and unless you are willing to do battle with the demons within you will never accomplish the goals that you have failed at so many times in the past.   So this year, my friends, when someone asks you about your New Year's resolutions, tell them that they are not resolutions but revolutions.  Tell them that this year you are not just setting goals, but changing your life, altering your thought processes, and looking at the world with a fresh perspective.  ____________________________ Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum, Paul A. Myers