The Power of Resolution

THE POWER OF RESOLUTION: Have you made New Year’s resolutions for the coming year? I’ve made resolutions for the last several years and more often than not, I fail miserably at keeping them. And yet, I hold on to the hope that maybe this year will be different. Maybe this year, I will finally succeed at changing those things in my life that could use a tune-up.

I’ve decided on the anagram, POWERS, as a mnemonic device to help me remember what it is I would like to accomplish:

• P—Prayer. I want a deeper relationship with God and a more present spiritual awareness.
• O—Organization. There are many more years behind me than there are ahead of me, and time is running out on going through photographs and papers and divesting myself of all the paraphernalia that I’ve collected over the decades.
• W—Write. Both this blog and the sequel to Crashing Through the Windshield beckon.
• E—Exercise. Isn’t that just about everyone’s New Year’s resolution? As important as it is when you are young, it is vital when you are older. “Use it or lose it.” So much is lost during the aging process.
• R—Read. I read two newspapers daily, but I would like to read more literature, a pastime I thoroughly enjoy.
• S—Sustenance. I need to focus on a  heart-healthy diet—another endeavor that increases with importance as one ages.

I’ve adjusted the method that I usually use in keeping New Year’s resolutions.   For “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got” advises James P.  Lewis. So, I’m not going to try as hard. I know that sounds counterproductive, but when I try really hard, try to be perfect, I fail because I simply cannot be perfect. (Yes, this was a difficult concept for me to accept. And yes, I am laughing at my admission.) Even if I only pray for five minutes, clean out a quarter of my junk drawer, write a paragraph, walk for twenty minutes, read a few pages, and avoid that donut, I can put a check in the success column for that day. I’m pretty sure that if I do that long enough, better habits will take root.

Maybe you are not a person who needs a resolution or a plan. Maybe you are a person who is able to live in the moment and accomplish great things. If you are, embrace and be grateful for your good fortune and for your freedom from those things that encumber many of us. Some of us are encumbered by health or finances or relationships or a multitude of other shackles. For me, it is usually the anxiety which runs in the background of my mind like a manufacturer-supplied app that can’t be deleted. It can’t be deleted, but it can be managed, and for me, my POWERS this coming year will help.

Dear Readers, I wish you all the best in 2024—joy and hope, health and happiness, many blessings, and every good thing. And if you need to, I hope you find your own powers that will help you accomplish whatever it is you want to accomplish this coming year.