ONE THING THAT WILL EMPOWER YOU TO KEEP ALL YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS
New Year’s resolutions are a yearly ritual,
engaged in between the last week of December of the preceding year and the
first week of January of the succeeding year. There is one thing that if you do, you'll be able to keep all or most of your resolutions.
Between 40 and 45 percent of the world population are said to be making New Year’s resolutions. They do this in the hope that it will motivate or inspire them to accomplish their targets for the year. All categories of persons, entreprenuers, leaders, students, men, women, professionals, etc, make resolutions. The decisions centre around major challenges of humans such as losing weight, exercising programmes, quitting smoking, saving more money, finding love, spending more time with family, finding a better job, buying or building a house, reading more books, etc. But by June, 46 percent or nearly half of the people are said to have given up on those resolutions, according to the findings published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology in 2002. There is also research evidence that it is between 8 and 10 percent of the resolutions that are kept.
Despite
this low percentage of success in keeping resolutions, researchers say that
making a resolution is one of the best ways to actually effect a behavioural
change, particularly if the goals that are set are realistic, in the first
place. They argue that resolutions help move us from the point of thinking or
contemplating about our goals to the point of taking actions on them.
A
particular study on resolution success, for instance, reveals that 46 percent
of resolution-makers consistently pursued their goal, while only 4 percent of
those who didn’t make a resolution accomplished their desires six months late.
Now,
the main reason most people fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions is because
they try to put new wine into old wineskins. They try to use “old selves” to effect
new outward and physical results such as weight reduction, increased income, not
smoking, new house, etc. They focus on “what” instead of “who.” They concentrate
on “things” instead of the “person” behind the things.
If you
desire to be keeping the resolutions you make whether at the beginning of the year
or any other time, the one thing you must do to gather enough spiritual, mental
and emotional strength to do so is to be transformed from your “old self” to a “new
self.” The old self is weak (that is why
it always falls), limited, short-sighted, self-centred, and so on.
To “transform”
means to “change something dramatically”,
or “undergo total change”, etc. One sure
solution I know humans use to effect transformation of their old selves is recorded
in the Bible. “And do not be conformed to this world, but BE TRANSFORMED BY THE
RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God” (Romans 12:2). We desperately need God’s help if we must succeed in
truly undergoing transformation from old self to new self.
The
core of the old self is the “old mind” or “old habits of thought”. The old mind
can’t habitually think of new, desirable things. It always takes people (resolution
makers) back to their old, mentally established ways of doing things. Hence, the
low percentage of keeping resolutions.
A person
who has been transformed through the RENEWING OF THE MIND (that is, formation of
new thought habits) is a brand new version
of himself or herself. That is the “Who” that will be able to effect the “What”.
This new Person will be able to keep all
the decisions which will in turn produce all the Things set forth in the resolutions. The most crucial factor in New
Year’s resolutions, therefore, is to concentrate on the Who (that is, You), the
person behind the things desired.
Another
important point is that in order to conquer old, undesirable habits, use Thought
Replacement instead of Frontal Attack method of thinking. Ovid says that “The strongest
propensity is excited toward that which is prohibited.” If you want to think yourself
away from smoking, for instance, you are indirectly emphasizing “smoking” in your
thought world. That way, you increase the propensity to smoke again. Rather, replace
that thought of smoking with an opposite, or substitute desirable behavior, and
dwell on this new one. The new thought emphasis will become increasingly dominant
and will certainly culminate in resolution success. We welcome your comments. Also
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