New Year’s Resolutions – Their true effectiveness and validity.

I have constantly pondered over this phenomenon called ‘the New Year’s Resolution:

It is not unusual to see drastic increases in the attendance at prayer houses of all faiths, or in the gyms and fitness programs or in the desire to quit smoking, reduce alcohol intake, be more committed to one’s family and all the positive traits one can think of, in the beginning of a brand new year.
However, it is also not unusual to see the number of people committed to their New Year’s Resolution(s) dwindle by Valentine’s Day and I would have to wonder if this is a reflection of our combined sense of commitment (as the human race) to anything at all.
The fast paced, ever changing environment we live in has successfully enabled us to make and break our promises and to conveniently ignore what really needs making better.

Every year, I hear, “A New Year, a New You……” but it is not a new me. It is the same old me with changing convictions and changing priorities, living in an ever-changing and evolving environmental and societal tide.
Why does a New Year mean that that I have to change? Why is the New Year the only time that warrants this change?
I truly believe that the time for change is at any time I feel and that may vary depending on my need, my level of commitment, self worth, responsibility and most of all circumstance. If I choose to make a resolution in the middle of the year, then, so be it. If I choose to give up on that resolution for whatever reason, then so be it. What right does anyone have to judge me as a result? What right do I have to judge another?

The media and self-help gurus devote reams of information to how to make and keep resolutions and ultimately it is each individual’s personal decision, strength and level of commitment, or the lack thereof, that keeps him or her on the desired path of change.

How these resolutions can be achieved is not for me or anyone else to say, especially in a world that has so many distractions, so many ways in which, wavering is possible and in a world that is also so forgetful as new things, new icons, new idols and commitments emerge on a second to second basis.

The level of commitment may then seem to be in direct proportion to the levels of competence and respect for humanity that exist today. When we really mean what we say and say what we mean, we may not need to re-enforce the need for commitment to anything at all.

Change is of course inevitable but when we try to change by someone else’s standards, be like someone else, and/or succumb to other people’s scrutiny, we try and change who and what we truly are, through unattainable, un-committable resolutions. The outcome is a residue of moral and emotional scars that need to be filled by forgoing ethical and humanitarian values and by making more resolutions which cannot be upheld. We end up falling into the viscous cycle of making promises that we will only inevitably, break
On the other hand, when we decide that change is incumbent, the resulting levels of commitment can be entirely different. In this case, resolutions may well be important because this means that we are trying to improve. When we recognize why we have resolutions and can determine whether this is being done for the benefit of others, because we are simply trying to fit in and conform by succumbing to societal dynamics, or whether the change is because we truly want to take resolute steps towards the betterment of our own futures, the level of commitment will be different, as will the outcome.

Our constant dissatisfaction and discontentment at the way we are may be why resolutions even exist. The superficial, vain and shallow existence we lead with no commitment to the real health issues, environmental issues, the complete lack of basic humanity and the condoning of superficial commitments from politicians and people in power, may increase our desire to want to improve our imperfect existence.
Only when we truly realize the totality of all these ethical improprieties which exist in our environment, can we do away with having temporary annual resolutions that distract us from the true realities of life.
When we realize the true causes of obesity, when the pharmaceutical industry stops poisoning the populations for profits , when governments realize that the poisons in our food, air and water are the causes of major illness and psychiatric problems, when we stop believing in fairy tales we hear about food, medicine, potential cures and the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; in other words, when we come face to face with the reality that we call life and the real causes of illness, obesity, addiction and escapism, we may be able to do away with the need for annual resolutions that keep us temporarily and momentarily pacified.

I honestly think the New Year’s resolution is an under-committed and over-rated phenomenon that is only observed because someone somewhere says so and the real resolutions are the ones we ignore the most.
But I can do nothing about it because we are brainwashed into believing that we need to have New Year’s Resolutions.
It would be like I was single handedly trying to end the cold war; except that this involves the recognition of the lack of moral and ethical values along with a complete ignorance of the real issues like illness, greed, racism, prejudice, poverty and war that need to be dealt with from a social, economic, political, global and most of all, humanitarian point of view.

When we have the real ‘kahunas’ to recognize and call a spade a spade and when we can choose not to ignore what we do not want to know of, maybe we will see the demise of the need for annual pacifiers we call resolutions.