Happy New Year 2010

Happy New Year and thanks for all the cookies.

Well we just closed out another year and aren’t you glad we did? (Did you close it out…did you really?)

I have to admit right up front that I am not one of those guys that goes in for all those New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t believe in them and I don’t buy into it. It seems so phony and unproductive to get all hyped up and committed to something that will wash away before the month is over, some not lasting a whole week.

And what about the rest of the year? What if you have a really good idea for a resolution but you refuse to make it because you don’t want to waste it on a silly little month like July so you think you will save it until January 1 when all good resolutions are made. Yea makes sense to me.

That is why I am all for making resolutions for the betterment of self and mankind at whatever time of the year they appear because chances are that is the exact time when they are needed most. Of course this is the time of year when they are “expected” and the media likes to play into those generated expectations. That is why the front page story in our local paper covered the expectation that gyms will see an increase in activity this month. Well DUH. (I had almost given up on journalisms ability to state the overly obvious but once again they pulled through.)

Anyway, while I was relaxing this fine day and thinking about not much in particular it occurred to me that I wasn’t as tense as I normally am on a regular work day. I then realized that I hadn’t tuned into the news, I hadn’t been hanging out in my cubicle, I hadn’t driven anywhere involving insane traffic, and I hadn’t turned on any talk radio for background chatter. Mmm, do you suppose there is any correlation?

Now normally I don’t make resolutions on this day (you could almost say I am anti-resolution on this day), but I got to thinking that this is probably a good day to make a sort of commitment to myself in the form of a goal of awareness and action and to start it on this day as it is as good as any other.

I can’t shut out all the influences of day to day living, but I do need to offset them with counter balancing influences. I have an idea. For every minute I expose myself to the highly charged Medias of the day I need to expose myself to an equal minute of spiritually uplifting, self improving, or advancing educational moment of a worthwhile nature.

This sounded easy the first time I thought of it but as I further reflect, maybe half a minute would be better. Though really a half minute added up is still a lot of time compared to total minutes in a day and how many of them are already exposed to the harmful rays of radio and TV. I bet a ten minutes to one minute ratio would be enough to offset the stress inducing effects of today’s world. Of course if I forget and miss a day I’m sure I could catch up easier if it was a ten to one trade off. Besides that way I just need one chunk of good to offset all those chunks of bad which are scattered on and off throughout the whole day. Kind of like going to church, you only have to go one day out of seven to get all the spiritual benefit you need and even then it isn’t like you have to go for the whole day. Hey, wait a minute, isn’t going to church once a week enough to offset all that non spiritual junk I get exposed to the other six days of the week? Maybe I don’t need to have this resolution; oops sorry; awareness commitment after all.

Or do I? Do I really get enough in one short session, one day a week to feed me spiritually for the whole week? What happens if I start running low and need a booster shot, so to speak, do I just have to tough it out until the next scheduled session?

Of course not, and that is why I got myself going down this path to begin with. As the days get heavier with the amount of stuff I allow myself to be exposed to, I need to remind myself that I need to get a balancing dose of offsetting medicines to maintain a grounded balance of my own spiritual self. Like a good vitamin can supplement the body’s physical needs, a daily feeding of uplifting material can supplement the spiritual needs we have.

So what is the perfect ratio? I don’t know, but it is different for each and every person and everyone’s needs change constantly as time passes from moment to moment. I only want to be more aware of what that need is when it hits and spend more time giving it the attention it deserves. Not only would I like to be more aware of the what and when of my needs, but it would be nice to see the what and when of others needs as well and then be inspired enough to do something about it. I’m sure I would be much better off for it.

If you are the kind of person that likes to make resolutions then I wish you well in your endeavors. Write them down and make a real effort to have them make a difference for you. You are worth it. And if you wake up tomorrow or the next day or even sometime in July and realize that you forgot one, don’t sweat it, add it to the list and start right in on it. That way everyday can be a Happy New Year, even those in July.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.