New Year's Catalyst?

Happy New Year everyone!

2007…2006 is all spent and we are on track to begin a new 365 day cycle. I hope as you reflect on 2006’s achievements and failures that there were more achievements and that the failures you had were events you were able to galvanize into learning experiences.

Well, 2007 bodes to be an exciting year. For those of us with kids, each year not only reminds us of our youth but our kids do things that we never expect. That’s what makes this parenting thing fun.

Anyhow, I digressed onto the parenting track once again…it’s been a while since my last post and I’ll kopp out on the excuse that work has kept me really busy/preoccupied because it has; but, then again anyone can use that excuse. Too bad. I’m using it.

From a posting standpoint, I’ll work to be more resolute on posting on a regular basis. It’ll probably be the first resolution I break but hey…if you can’t break a resolution, why have them in the first place?

I’ll ask the rhetorical question that everyone asks and that you were expecting, “why is there so much focus on New Year’s Resolutions?” When you think about it, there is an awfully lot of hype around these empty promises. The only special thing about them is that because it’s the beginning of a new year, people put extra weight behind these “intents” just because it’s the beginning of a new year.

Have you ever said, “I’m starting that diet on Monday?” Well, Monday is the magic that occurs some 52 times of the year…the fact that Monday was January 1st gives a resolution even more emphasis. It’s the kickoff of the week and the year. Does that really mean you are more likely to follow through?

I am a strong believer in the fact that words have power. Our language dictates the way we think. That’s why Mondays and New Years have the weight they have when beginning new things or implementing changes. We associate them with the “beginning” or something “new”. The words “Beginning” and “New” have always been associated with positive feelings for me. Unfortunately the changes we propose to begin on these magic dates are associated with words that are backed by feelings that are less than positive. Words like “change”, “diet”, “more”, “work”, etc. I’m sure your list is different from mine but look at the discouraging words and what emotions are triggered when you think of those words.

Is the positive emotion of the magic start dates enough to overcome the negativity of the words you would use to characterize what you are attempting to achieve? Especially as the magic date passes and the negative characteristics remain unchanged for the duration of your attempt? How do we change the emotions and feelings behind these words so that we don’t have to rely so much on a magic date?

2007 can be a magical year. It can be a year of significant improvement in your life…in my life…but not if we depend on the New Year holiday to be the catalyst to that change…we have to change the belief systems that are our core to catalyze these changes and improvements.