Necessary Resolution? Love.

Robert began to speak in a quiet and assured voice. "What you SHOULD or COULD do with your life no longer matters. The only thing that matters, from this day forward, is what you MUST do."

With the New Year's Eve here, I fully expect to check through the logs I commonly read, those which are running, as well as, "newsie" in nature, and have the opportunity to see the resolutions or aspirations that folks identifying for 2009.

I suspect that, as in my own case, I suspect that if I were to search back to the individual's December 31, 2007 post, I might find some of the same things. As beautifully articulated in this short anecdote, quoted throughout this post) sent to me via DailyOM, often the issue is that we as hopeful people often create lists for ourselves of things we would like to do rather than developing goals which capture those things we must work towards accomplishing.

This is a subtle distinction, not unlike one I make for my students on a fairly regular basis.
A personal case-in-point from my own December 30, 2007 post reveals how unsuccessful I have been in "saying" what I would like to do rather than doing what I must: "2008 is here and one thing I'd like to accomplish this year is being more disciplined in what I eat. This is not to say I want to lose weight, but rather that I'd like to be more conscientious about what I eat and how large my servings are." I think I have written the same post for the past three years, and I here I sit about to say the same thing again.

The conclusion to the DailyOM anecdote spreads further light on a deeper necessity. After the person in the story shares her two lists with the second character, he then shares something with her:

He then drew a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to me.
I opened it carefully, and found a single word floating in the middle of the white page: "Love."

Rather than making a list of races I'd like to run, events I want to qualify for, mileage totals I think within reach for achievement, weight I'd like to lose, or changes in my own attitude which would benefit everyone, what I must do is LOVE MYSELF and ALL THOSE AROUND ME... talk about a Herculean goal, but as I read the anecdote, the only one which (if honestly worked toward if not fully achieved) will allow any improved well-being.

Happy New Year!

Embrassez votre été invincible!