Resolutions:  Do they Help us Stay on Track?

I had a very quiet day yesterday – the first day of 2010.   Did you?

All the Holiday hustle and bustle had waned in our home.  I was happy to spend a day snuggled up watching the snow fall outside and just BE.   A long meditation, a lot of journal writing, and top it off with a good meal – the day couldn’t have been better.

But I’m the type who doesn’t like to make resolutions for the new year.  My New Year’s Resolutions are kind of like me on that winter slide in the picture: I stay on track at the beginning then everything opens up and before you know it I’m pointing another direction.   The New Year can’t be my only time to resolve because I usually can’t remember what I resolved to do last year! I know it’s true because I had to go back to my January 1, 2009 blog post just to see what kind of kick I was on then.  I have to think of what I want more frequently.  Can you remember what you thought of doing last year?

So this year rather than resolve, I spent the day DREAMING!

Rather than make a list of things that I have to change, or a list of ways to right my wrongs, I dreamed the day away thinking of all the things to look forward to in 2010.  Most of them involved the transition I want to make in my yoga business from teaching in person, to teaching others about kids yoga through on-line tools:

• I dreamed of opening up an e-mail from another teacher telling me about the fun they had using the Yoga Superhero colouring book,
• I visioned a phone class with teachers from all over the world who want to know how to do yoga with their kids, hearing the spirit and passion in their introductions and marveling about how many countries are on the call,
• I imagined hiring people to help me do the stuff that I don’t really like to do!

I wrote all these things down WITHOUT writing one word about how I would get there.  It was a very pleasurable, cozy, satisfying meditation.

Have you ever asked a child what they want to be when they grow up?  I’ve found this question puts a worried look on many kids faces.  Sometimes they just don’t know.  Sometimes they don’t know if they can have what they really want, so they don’t want to say.  And sometimes they don’t want to hear everyone’s well-intentioned suggestions.

That’s how I feel about New Year’s Resolutions.  I don’t want to set them if its worrisome.  I want to be able to dream even if I don’t know how it will happen or whether it is possible or not.

Okay, I will make one resolution:  Never to put pressure on kids to justify how they will fulfill their dreams. To let them dream something to look forward to.

Ah, New Years without any of the pressure.  What’s your opinion of New Years Resolutions?  Do they help set the course for the year or not?