New Year's Resolutions


My massage therapist recently asked me if I had any New Year's Resolutions. I told her that that last one I made, which was a number of years ago, was to be nice to cashier's, clerks, wait staff. You know, all those people who are in the service industry and have to put up cranky if not downright rude people. 

I try to keep this up. I try to be at least polite and understanding if I'm not feeling in the friendliest of moods.

An interesting thing that I've noticed is that it makes my life nicer as well. By staying calm and being friendly, I can laugh with people, smile at their stories, and, best of all, not spend my mental, emotional, and yes psychic, energy being irate or angry. 

Other than that, I try not to make New Year's resolutions. They are sooooo easy to break which, of course, can make me feel soooo bad about not keeping them. And that's not very compassionate to myself. Who knows, maybe breaking them might make me grumpy which would spill over to other people.

And, why is the start of a calendar year so special for making resolutions or trying to create new disciplines in our lives? Isn't this something that can be done at any time? Maybe it is because it is the start of a new calendar year with all the hope that that can bring us. It will be different this year. I will do ____ this year - fill in the blank for yourself.


Does waiting to the start of a new year just put off doing something that maybe we should be doing now? Does waiting make it harder to do? I wish I had the answers to these questions, as well as the answer on how to actually follow through on my good intentions. 

What is actually the most compassionate thing I can do for myself? What do you think?

The first photograph by Annie Pratt was found on unsplash.com. The other two images are from my book, Opening the Heart: Meditations on How to Be (here).

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