New Year or a New Day = New Beginnings

The dawn of a new year means a chance for many to reboot their lives, hit a mulligan or start their lives anew. There really is no other explanation for the phenomenon known as the New Year’s Resolution. 

                                                       

But in reality, we have an opportunity every day that we wake up alive and healthy to change our attitudes and made the decision to do the next right thing. That is why I no longer make resolutions at the start of a new year. Instead I try to re-adjust my expectations, goals, plans, practices, and attitude on a daily basis.

There are several explanations for my awareness that we have the chance to reinvents ourselves on a daily basis. Primarily, I attribute my awakening on the years I’ve spent in Al Anon, yoga, the guidance from Doreen Virtue and my personal journey to find peace and serenity through acceptance of who I am.

There are many recipes for embracing new beginnings – as many as there are stars in the sky. But I think the start of a new year gives us all a chance to focus, reflect, and consider where we have been, where we are and where we want to go.

Too often, however, we make non-specific or unrealistic resolutions without incorporating the plan to achieve the goals. Or we draft a list of resolutions instead of focusing on one or two achievable goals.

So I try to accomplish one positive achievement per day instead of making a list of resolutions. I truly believe that each day we are given the chance to make a new beginning. Each day I accept that I have achieved a new beginning of some sorts if I am able to be kind, eat healthful foods, exercise, accept people as they are, get over a resentment because I cannot change the situation and don’t want to destroy my career by being a diva, embrace something new, forgive myself if I don’t reach my aspirations, acknowledge when I am wrong, or overlook something that bugs me that really doesn’t matter in the scheme of things.

I am not always successful in achieving my goals. But I do know that if today I do not succeed, I have tomorrow – a new day – to try again.