Are you tired of unmet New Year’s resolutions? Would you like to trash this “resolution” idea for change since it never really works anyway? After all, what is a “resolution” anyway? A resolution speaks to resolving a dilemma. We may imply by a resolution that we have resolved the dilemma of whether to stop this or start that, but these resolutions never seem to hold any real power over us in order to truly modify our behavior in a lasting manner. Almost all resolutions seem to involve some form of decreasing our consumption: too much food, too much alcohol, too much smoking, too much working, or too much spending. I do not know of anyone who has resolved formally to increase consumption in these areas although there certainly may be someone out there who is too thin and perhaps too sober.

I believe what we think is the answer to our dilemma by our annual spate of good intentions gone awry may be mis-directed and uninformed. We target our behavior to reduce intake and consumption without any consideration why our intake is what it is. Why do we eat so much? Why do we drink so much? Is it ignorant and unconscious behavior that just happens for no reason? I do not think so. We know by research and even by our own intuition that everything we do is for a reason – it may not be a good or sufficient reason, but nevertheless, a reason. Would you really be willing to look below the surface in order to find the real reason for you lack of reasonable consumption? Is it easier to just target the behavior and fail to make any kind of lasting change again in 2007?

Anytime we want to repair something, we ask ourselves, “What is wrong?” Why is the car overheating?  Why is this or that happening? When the mechanic discovers why the car is overheating, he then sets about to repair the cause. He does not resolve to have the car overheat less in 2007. This is the essence of simplifying our life. We do not dance around cursing the symptoms, but rather we intelligently attack the root causes of our behavior in order to make lasting changes.

              So what needs to be changed for this next new year we have at our doorstep?  And second, are we really willing to do what is necessary to make the changes we know are needed? Have you become tired of getting what you have always gotten - tired enough to find the courage to do something new? Small changes have the very real potential of causing some very large changes in your life and in the lives of others you relate to. Will you do it? Or will I see you back here next year complaining that your life never changes? You decide.