New Year's Resolutions-or not

Hauoli Makahiki Hou!

In old Hawaii, makahiki was celebrated with a festival of community-a day of sports/competitions, music & dance, and luau- a big dinner that had cooked all day. It was a celebration of life, and expression of joy, health and gratitude.

Have you brought in your new year with gratitude for the year past? Or are you busy beating yourself up for what is yet to be done? I've spent the last week in intense introspection & journaling. I was looking for direction for the next year, and considering "resolutions"/goals for the coming year.

And along the way, I've moved back to my "no resolutions" perspective, but further down the path. It seems to me that our culture puts in an expectation that a long list of resolutions will be made on January 1st, and they'll all be broken by January 31st.

In his book, The Success Principles, Jack Canfield suggests focusing on one new success habit each quarter of the year. Within five years, you will have developed twenty new success habits. And three months is generally enough to set that as a habit for life.

Steve Pavlina blogs about 30-day experiments-try a new habit every day for thirty days, and then evaluate how it works for you. Thirty days gets you through the initial adjustment reactions, and far enough into the actual practice to see how it will affect your life and well-being. Then choose whether or not to continue it on for another 30 days, or out to 100 days. (By one hundred days, it's habit.)

I have found some direction in going through the goals process, in setting a general direction for the year. After a couple of years focused on regaining my health, and fitting in whatever other learning and projects sparked my fancy, I feel a need for a bit more focus on productivity.

At the same time, I'm clear that I don't know all the opportunites that will appear this year. I don't want to set myself up for "failure"-either by scheduling my goals so intently that I don't see/have time for the new opportunities, or by "failing" to achieve my goals because I set them aside to pursue the new opportunities.

All these perspectives combined, I choose this approach for 2006:
I seek optimal physical health, professional development, and greater involvement in my community. These support my values: Sparkle (physical well-being)-Creativity (business development)-Connection (community involvement).

In the area of creativity, I will be learning about web design this year, and I have a couple of interlocking websites in the planning stages. Stay tuned for the first one later this month. . . ReDesigning Relationships.

My first 30-day experiment is to establish a morning routine of getting up early enough to exercise, shower, dress and eat before 7 AM. I will also be blogging at least once every day for the next thirty days. (Public accountability strengthens resolve!)

Today I'll actually be blogging twice. I have a few "chores" to take care of, and then I'll be introducing a new tradition to this blog. Stay tuned!

Aloha!