New Year’s Evolution

        New Year’s resolution. Many of us know them well. We are so familiar with them that we repeat them, making illustrious patterns of well, disappointments. I plan on losing 10 lbs this year. I will stop drinking soda for the next 6 months. I will get a membership to the gym and attend a regular class there. I will stop smoking. I will be more compassionate. The majority of most of our resolutions have to do with our health and well-being. In essence, we wish to optimize our life experiences by being in better physical, mental, and spiritual shape. The guilt of having gained weight, picking up the habit of smoking, or having a not-so-gracious demeanor invokes us to change. Sometimes we do not recognize the depths of our symptoms until they have reached rock bottom. This is actually an opportunity to dig our deepest and discover at our core the reasons for our imbalances. Making a verbal commitment to ourselves by ourselves is a great first step, but deciding how to make the commitment real involves daily ritual.

I have often shied away from making resolutions all my life. Even as a little girl I just kept things moving as usual and made changes as I saw fit, and I’m pretty much the same way now. This year however, I’m determined to shed my life of relationships with limited mobility, and put all of my artistic gifts and pursuits into full gear. As I move into another phase in life and specifically womanhood, I am determined to learn from my own life experiences. It just so happens to be that I begun to play out these decisions and changes in December; like I said I keep life moving. I have dedicated the last 2 years of my life to consistantly exercising. I got a membership at the excellent Bed-Stuy YMCA , and regularly attend Boot Camp . (Foot surgery has taken me away from class for 3 months now, but I’ve been on the road to exercising at home again.) But this time last year, I was attending class regularly on average 4 times/week. I attended class after the holidays and wondered why class was over-crowded. I wasn’t late that day, so I pondered with a fellow consistent classmate about the boost in attendance. I was actually a little mad and to me the attendance was madness. Then we came to the conclusion that these must be people who made their new year’s resolutions. After the ah-ha moment, I leaned over and said to my classmate, “ most of them will be gone by February"… and they were. Not that I did not believe in them, but this is a SERIOUS class and yes you will sweat! Like any serious commitment, it starts mentally. Like they say get your head in the game...

Again, resolutions are excellent vantage points. The key to the success of a resolution is to start before your “start date”. We are all familiar with “binges” before the "big date”. Consume all you can before you begin. Think of it like this, excess is excess. The more you exceed, the more you have to work and the less your mind is engaged in the transformative process. This is not going cold turkey, which, is more or less a split decision. This is setting you up for failure. A resolution is better reached when it becomes a lifestyle through action based on understanding, and not through mere force. This Is Evolution. We are all worthy of giving ourselves time to reach our destination one day at a time. If we really want to see change, you have to at least plan it in your mind and allow it to be part of you as the understanding of it comes. 

Here are some keys to creating your successful Evolution:

1. Determine the thing you most want to change in your life.
2. Think about achieving your goal until it feels it is embedded in you.
3. Consider your obstacles ahead of time, without being discouraged. You will have to overcome them, but need to know what some of them may be ahead of time.
4. Allow it to be a part of your life. Accept both criticism and praise about your choice and lay it down beside you. Indulging in either one will create an imbalance in your mental scale and thwart your success. Say thank you and keep it moving!
5. Do it when you’re tired and when you're bored. Your body and wallets will thank you later for the diligence.
6. Reward yourself along the way as you achieve milestones in your commitment.