Resolution Solution
I talked with my lifetime best friend today. As usual, it was just as if we had spoken yesterday. We talked about family. We shared the notion that when many family members get older, money seems to become more important than relationships. Insecurity raises its ugly head, taking control of better judgment. As so often happens, the complexities of life skew people's priorities.
Then we talked about my friend's mother: an 85 year old woman who is never sick, wears no glasses, still drives and takes care of herself with no immediate family near, and just fashioned and hand sewed 34 small copies of private school uniforms for American Girl doll owners in order to support herself. Recently my friend celebrated a significant birthday and when asked to impart the most important wisdom her mother had passed on to her, she made the following toast to her mother, "I want to honor a woman who has always seen the glass half full, even when it has been totally empty." Immediately, we both associated her health and longetivity to her consistent attitude of gratitude --no matter what. And I can assure you, she has had more than her share of undeserved "Whats?"
After our conversation, I not only deliberated on what my New Year's resolutions might be this year or whether I should even have any or not, but for the first time I considered what it meant to make a "resolution." A resolution is the act or process of reducing something to a simpler form by making a considered determination and applying firmness and steadiness in carrying forward the new resolve. In other words, reflecting on this complex thing we call "life" and breaking it down into its most basic parts and after determining life's most important priorities, resolving with firmness and steadiness of purpose to be guided by those priorities first and foremost.
I believe that is what my friend's mother has done all of her life. She determined that she could not control circumstances, but she could control her attitude towards her circumstances.
She protected herself from anxiety and angst by finding a positive in every situation, thereby creating an atmosphere of peace for herself in the midst of whatever chaos or crisis came her way. With firmness of resolve she determined not to have her inner peace controlled by any outer circumstance. She resolved to create a healthy spirit which shaped her life, her character, and her physical health, all towards the best she could be.
I now have decided that resolutions are good things, not silly things that only make you feel guilty when you don't keep them. They are not made in order to make one later feel guilty, but to provide an opportunity once a year to take time to reflect on life and reduce it to meaningful priorities. When something is recognized as being meaningful to us, it is no longer so difficult to maintain as a priority -- it becomes something we will want to do.
I now know what my resolution is for 2009: no matter what may happen in the world or in my own life, I want to have an attitude of gratitude for simply having air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, a roof over my head, some good relationships, decent health and more inner peace than last year.
Then we talked about my friend's mother: an 85 year old woman who is never sick, wears no glasses, still drives and takes care of herself with no immediate family near, and just fashioned and hand sewed 34 small copies of private school uniforms for American Girl doll owners in order to support herself. Recently my friend celebrated a significant birthday and when asked to impart the most important wisdom her mother had passed on to her, she made the following toast to her mother, "I want to honor a woman who has always seen the glass half full, even when it has been totally empty." Immediately, we both associated her health and longetivity to her consistent attitude of gratitude --no matter what. And I can assure you, she has had more than her share of undeserved "Whats?"
After our conversation, I not only deliberated on what my New Year's resolutions might be this year or whether I should even have any or not, but for the first time I considered what it meant to make a "resolution." A resolution is the act or process of reducing something to a simpler form by making a considered determination and applying firmness and steadiness in carrying forward the new resolve. In other words, reflecting on this complex thing we call "life" and breaking it down into its most basic parts and after determining life's most important priorities, resolving with firmness and steadiness of purpose to be guided by those priorities first and foremost.
I believe that is what my friend's mother has done all of her life. She determined that she could not control circumstances, but she could control her attitude towards her circumstances.
She protected herself from anxiety and angst by finding a positive in every situation, thereby creating an atmosphere of peace for herself in the midst of whatever chaos or crisis came her way. With firmness of resolve she determined not to have her inner peace controlled by any outer circumstance. She resolved to create a healthy spirit which shaped her life, her character, and her physical health, all towards the best she could be.
I now have decided that resolutions are good things, not silly things that only make you feel guilty when you don't keep them. They are not made in order to make one later feel guilty, but to provide an opportunity once a year to take time to reflect on life and reduce it to meaningful priorities. When something is recognized as being meaningful to us, it is no longer so difficult to maintain as a priority -- it becomes something we will want to do.
I now know what my resolution is for 2009: no matter what may happen in the world or in my own life, I want to have an attitude of gratitude for simply having air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, a roof over my head, some good relationships, decent health and more inner peace than last year.
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