One facet of
New Year’s Eve is thinking about the year ahead. Most people celebrate the Eve.
It’s hard to know what the split is between those making merry for getting
through the old year and those whooping it up for the fresh territory the upcoming 365
days present.
A common
denominator for adults, however, is the recognition that the year ahead usually contains unknowns.
Whether one is rich or poor, young or old, healthy or sick, in love or out, or
seemingly in control of events vs. at their mercy, it’s rarely possible to
verbalize what’s down the road accurately. So, resolutions are made as part of the New Year's ritual, mostly in an attempt to impose some appearance of order or control on the future. The resolution maker takes charge! “I resolve to…” lose
weight, clean the garage, drink less, go to church, study harder, and so on. Unfortunately, there is no reliable data on the number of resolutions made, achieved, or discarded. So the actual value of the process to the resolver, if any, is unknown.
A substitute for resolutions are “intentions.” They are easier to prescribe for one’s self
in that they are less absolute and demanding than resolutions. Experienced users say that intentions tend
to be more doable and return a higher psychic income because the intender can
gain satisfaction from smaller increments of progress. A resolution, “I will stop drinking chocolate milk this coming year”
is different than, “I intend to ease
back on my chocolate milk consumption in 2014.”
What’s the
difference? It’s significant. A
resolution is a declaration, a stake in the ground—a goal post. Either the resolver achieves it or not. It’s win or lose. In the other case, an intention
is a gentler, maybe even a whimsical, leaning: “This is what I would like to do,
but I acknowledge I am not in 100% control. To some extent I have to go with the flow.”
There is an
old saying: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” A more realistic
saying for these complex times might be: “Intentions are the front porch on the house of action.” And, indeed,
there is a rumor in D.C. about recent, geological research that has found that the road to hell
has actually been repaved with broken resolutions. They provide a lot of
traction for the downhill trip and last longer in the heat than do intentions,
which although softer, don’t break so easily.
©2013
by Steven C. Brandt. All rights reserved.
