It's a month of new beginnings in many ways.
What happens during the year? We lose our connection between the mind and body. During the days leading up to the New Year we examine all the negative aspects of our life: "Something needs to change, I can't live like this anymore." This pattern of thinking is typically negative towards ourselves or rolled off as humorous neglect.
You might say, "I'm going to make some changes in my life". That's fantastic. Taking control and stepping in a positive, healthy direction feels natural, it feels right. The mind wants it and the body needs it. However, we inevitably lose the fire of the resolution. External factors get in the way of precious time and commitments we set out to engage in. It happens every year and every day and fools us again and again.
Why is this? It happens because of the intensity and speed of life that we have created. The mind constantly seeks out the next thing to do. We rarely find comfort in being still and listening to the needs of our body and mind's interest. There is more to life than increasing it's speed. Just because others around us are moving a mile a minute, we don't have to contribute. We don't have to add to the rush.
As soon as we start to see that we spend so much of our life and energy avoiding being present, being honest emotionally, being fully known, we can start to feel what's underneath it all. And what's under it might be tenderness, vulnerability, and the connection to basic goodness of our life and that of others.
For me, that's the fire of the true new year's resolution. A synonym for "resolution" is single-mindedness. I don't want to be so single-minded to complete a task that I lose focus of the other needs of myself (mind and body) and others. A more appropriate suggestion that I'll offer in place of that term is a new year's awareness. Instead of making a list of things that I'd like to do, to be done at some point throughout the year, I'm going to attend to the present moment and become aware of the needs I actually need to fulfill, rather than the needs my mind tells me should be done to satisfy or gain the approval of others.
"Everybody wake up, if you're living with your eyes closed."
- Dave Matthews Band, "Everybody Wake Up (Our Finest Hour Arrives)"
