YOGIC HERALD JAN 2020

KARMA
Making New Year
RESOLUTIONS WORK
Here are three golden principles of how to making your new year resolutions work
There are only 24
hours in a day. It
is important to
be reasonable
with your
expectations you
set for yourself.
Many of us make new year
resolutions with much
gusto only to see them
fizzle out within the first
week itself. And, the interesting thing is
that I don’t think it’s because we lack
the willpower, most of us have plenty of
it. Often, the reason is quite simple:
either you’ve made too big a resolution
straight up (for example, I will never
smoke or drink again) or you’ve made
too many resolutions. I’ll exercise 5 days
per week, plus, I’ll learn how to paint,
and I’ll meditate every day. I will also
sleep on time and not binge-watch
Netflix etc. Rather than making
resolutions per se, I’d like to offer you a
different approach that makes the best
use of the two of your most valuable
assets: mindfulness and motivation. If
you are motivated and you are mindful
of sticking to your discipline, half the
job is done. Before, I spell out the
details for you, here’s a little anecdote,
slightly paraphrased from Die Empty by
Todd Henry.
A man asked a group of people, “What
do you think is the most valuable land
in the world?”
Several people threw out guesses,
such as Manhattan, the oil fields of
the Middle East, and the gold mines
of South Africa, before the questioner
indicated that they were way off
track.
30 www.yogicherald.com Jan. 2020