While listening to reflections on Martin Luther King Day, I heard Dr. Robin Smith's advice to 'Dream like a fool.' http://www.drrobinsmith.com/index.htm
I wonder, is there any other kind of dream? After all, if dreams were easily realized and sensible they would just be called 'plans'. The purpose of dreams is to stretch reality; to dare to imagine what currently does not exist for us.
Dreams are for the young at heart, I've also heard, yet all of history points to the greatest among us who refused - or forgot- to stop dreaming. Dreaming then, is courageous when logic rallies against it. Dreaming is a mark of True Inner Strength for sure. It is not foolish after all. A fool wouldn't know what to do with a dream!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
New Year's Resolutions
A New Year. A time when people are pledging to be better, to be more, to improve somehow. I can't help but think, (cynically), how many people will abandon their New Year's Resolutions within a short time. Promises broken....again.
What is it that makes resolutions so difficult to honor? So fleeting? So opposite of resolute? Do we aim too high? Expect the impossible of ourselves? Or could it be that we construct our resolutions on false pretenses?
The specifics of our resolutions vary as much as the people making them. But the underlying theme is common: denial, disappointment, distaste, or disgust. It seems that we set our intentions to change that which we despise in ourselves and our lives. We are overweight and under-motivated; overcommitted and under-relaxed; we want more of this and less of that; we lose our patience too quickly and accomplish our goals too slowly. Too, too, too.
What a damaging word - 'too'. 'Too' implies that something is not right. And this is where it all goes wrong. If we fail to accept the reality of our current circumstances, how can we hope to change it? We cannot transform that which we don't accept. If we could truly accept our lives without blame or anger, we could look at our difficulties with compassion. And if we move forward with kindness, we stand a better chance at success.
Perhaps we can all start with the resolution to embrace what IS, before we attempt to achieve what isn't. We can accept and respond rather than deny and react. Then maybe, quite possibly, our resolutions will stick.
What is it that makes resolutions so difficult to honor? So fleeting? So opposite of resolute? Do we aim too high? Expect the impossible of ourselves? Or could it be that we construct our resolutions on false pretenses?
The specifics of our resolutions vary as much as the people making them. But the underlying theme is common: denial, disappointment, distaste, or disgust. It seems that we set our intentions to change that which we despise in ourselves and our lives. We are overweight and under-motivated; overcommitted and under-relaxed; we want more of this and less of that; we lose our patience too quickly and accomplish our goals too slowly. Too, too, too.
What a damaging word - 'too'. 'Too' implies that something is not right. And this is where it all goes wrong. If we fail to accept the reality of our current circumstances, how can we hope to change it? We cannot transform that which we don't accept. If we could truly accept our lives without blame or anger, we could look at our difficulties with compassion. And if we move forward with kindness, we stand a better chance at success.
Perhaps we can all start with the resolution to embrace what IS, before we attempt to achieve what isn't. We can accept and respond rather than deny and react. Then maybe, quite possibly, our resolutions will stick.
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