RESOLUTIONS OR RENEWAL? 

Happy New Year to you!

What is your best New Year’s memory?  I generally spend mine with a house full of family, games, cards, laughter and Chinese food. I will admit, these days I find it harder to be fully conscious at mid-night.

For me, a New Year has often been a time of dreaming into the future. I’m a visionary and forward orientated person, so I have a chronic passion for what can be and what is to come.  Perhaps using a new year to flip a new page comes naturally to me.

Do you feel that you get a fresh start every 365 days?

Many talk about New Year’s resolutions, some make them, some break them, and some criticise the idea all together.

While I enjoy the freshness of a new calendar year, I also try to embrace a daily mindset of freshness or more accurately renewal.

To live our days and seasons with a sense of growth and renewal is so much more meaningful and effective than a New Year’s resolution, in my opinion.

While I don’t prefer a New Year’s resolution in itself, I do prefer living on purpose with a purpose.
I want to make sure that I’m living and not just alive; living and not just on autopilot.

Living with purpose takes an intentionality that requires reflection, planning, goals and support. Those are slightly different that New Year’s resolutions that are often lofty, too big, and so grandiose that it’s unlikely we will ever achieve them. Consistent smaller life choices lead to lasting change.

How many resolutions have you managed to keep?

The stats on New Year’s resolutions from the business insider are that 80% of our resolutions fail by February. That’s four weeks!

Another stat from the Huffington Post is that only 8% of people make the change they set out for in January.

Most of us abandon our resolutions and feelings of failure or defeat drive the person closer to the “thing or person or habit” they wanted to change in the first place. The odds seem to be against us in the realm of resolutions.  Amazing that for such low stats on success, that it is still seen as a worthy pursuit?

“Resolutions are a wonderful thing if we can keep them, but many resolutions go by the wayside because we have not done anything different with our mindset.” Monica Johnson


Did you know that NY resolutions are not something of modern day? It’s a tradition that is said to have been around since 153 B.C.

January is named after a mythical Roman god and his name was Janus. It is said that Janus had two faces; one that looked backward to the past, and one that looked forward to the future. As the Roman tradition went, they thought that Janus looked both backwards and forwards on December 31st.  This become a time where the Romans made promises to self and others for the New Year. In this time of reflecting, they had a strong emphasis on forgiving their enemies and grievances from the year past.
Now that’s a worthy resolution. That sort of inner reflection and inner work creates renewal!


Renewal means this . . . 

1. Making something new/fresh
2. Resuming something after an interruption
3. Repairing something damaged, wore  out, burned out
4. Improving something or making more useful
5. A process and a state of being


It’s much more comprehensive and meaningful than a grandiose resolution; it’s a way of living.

Renewal is about a mental, physical, relational, and spiritual health check.

Maybe the pop culture evolution of New Year’s resolutions took us away from the real work that creates lasting change: renewing one’s mind, making resolution to chaos in one’s heart through forgiveness and restitution.

I like Benjamin Franklin’s take on the New Year, “Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a better man [woman].”

To find yourself a better woman next year will require on ongoing process of renewal.

If we shifted our mindset from resolutions to a life of renewal, we would be wiser, healthier and happier.

Renewal focuses on healthy thinking, being present, being grateful, self-acceptance, compassionate living and daily spiritual growth.  The biblical perspective of renewal encourages us to renew our minds. We become more of who and what we are destined to be through renewal. Scripture also teaches us that we are a new Creation when we find our life and faith in Jesus. Inner renewal is the key to the outer change we so crave. Inner spiritual renewal leads to healthier hearts, emotions, relationships and life choices.



Sometimes to get ourselves off autopilot, or out of unhealthy patterns of behaviors we need to start with our mindset: perspectives, thought patterns, fear, anxiety, negativity etc. We often need a reminder that renewal in our lives not just a practical check list, but also spiritual process that involved God's truth and His Spirit at work in our lives.

Remember as you step into 2018 that the Lord cares for you. His mercies are new every morning. He makes all things new. Most of all, a life with Him is the ability to live a life of renewal.

Kristy


LOOKING FOR PRACTICAL TIPS – KEEP READING 

End of Year Inventory . . .

What would you increase?
What would you decrease?
What would you add?
What would you subtract?
What would you forgive?
What would you relinquish?
What would you be open to?


Make a list of experiences that attributed to you joy – why were they so pleasurable?

Make a list of experience that caused pain – what was so painful?

Make a list of success and failure – what did you learn?

Make a list of difficult things you overcame - how did you cope and manage to get through?

Make a list of the relationships that were life giving – what qualities were in those life giving people?



When it comes to our mental health it is important for us to engage in pleasurable activities and to feel productive.  I tell my clients, go home and do something “new or old” that brings you fulfillment, purpose and pleasure.  To do that, make a list of things that you value and give you purpose. Then line up some activities that match that list.


New Year practices you may embrace and get benefit from: 

- Gratitude reflections/journal
- Music/play/sing/dance/listen
- Exercise
- Walking in nature
- Coffee with a friend
- Seeking out a mentor
- Make a dream board
- Start a new study
- Join a book club
- Giving to the local food bank /soup kitchen
- Serving some seniors
- Organizing your home
- Bird watching
- Snow shoeing /Skiing
- Ice fishing
- Make a Pinterest craft
- Make a new recipe
- Writing/blogging
- Purge a closet
- Recycle an item for a new use
- Attend a paint night
- Go to a hockey game
- Watch a curling game
- Join a gym/or sports team
- Indoor walking club
- Go hear new/old band
- Volunteer somewhere new
- Visit a family member
- Rest
- Make maple syrup
- Visit a library
- Visit a museum with free Library pass
- Get support in reducing stress
- See a counsellor
- See your Pastor
- Ask how to serve your local church
- Plant a flower for your home
- Start an indoor garden
- Get a pet
- Scrapbook
- Get into genealogy
- Go for a scenic drive
- Read favorite book
- Read online articles of interest
- Relax at your favorite coffee shop