What's to Resolve?

I guess I'm on a new year kick.  I took a good week off from Facebook, not for any reason in particular, but I just did.  Logging in the other day, initially to contact someone because it was the only way I could reach her, I took some time to catch up on some posts.  Some of those posts got me thinking.

The ones that suggest that as of January 1, some undesirable habits or traits were going to vanish suddenly.  I thought, good for you if you have the willpower to make that happen!  Some people are successful with going cold turkey.  But what if not everyone can pull that feat off?  I thought, what if we call in those habits and traits that need to go, look at them, understand why they exist, assess their value or degenerative quality and then with total knowing and purpose and faith in oneself, gently release the attachment to them and find our power to stand naked in a more pure self?

Then there are those posts that suggest that someone is going to appear in the new year to make us happy and feel loved and loving.  I thought, isn't that a cure-all pill!  But what if that someone doesn't appear? I thought, how many people do we know who drift in and out of relationships and on the way out usually have much to say about the short-comings of the other person. Are there really that many bad options for us or are we opting badly?  If we feel void of happiness and love, believing those gifts are bestowed upon us by another, how can we expect someone who possesses them to find us when our own beacon of self-love is dimmed?  If we do not feel love and happiness with ourselves, does it not follow that the energy we attract would also lack love and happiness?  What if we live the life we believe we are here to live, if we look in the mirror daily and the first thing we do is smile back instead of inspect and discount, what if daily we say out loud, "I love you," when we are the only person in the room?

And then there are the lists.  I thought, fifteen things to change about yourself in one year is ambitious and there are people who can attack a to-do list with verve and commitment.  But what about us who get distracted between items one and six?  They say it takes 21 days to develop a new habit or behavior.  Mathematically, that would be 315 days, leaving only 50 days of being a sloth, not even enough time to have a week off between list items.  I thought, instead of being beholden to an optimistic list created by someone else, what if we explored what our heart really needs for us to do.  Maybe it is something on that list, after all, we are not that unique, we are human.  What if we embrace that one list item and not only change the habit or behavior, but live it and breath it and share it and be it?

When I look at the definition of resolution, I see the word act and it is used as a noun, not a verb as to pretend.  And I see the word answer, which means there must be a question.  And I see the word ability, which must mean there is always possibility.  So what is the question?  That, my friends, is entirely up to us.

res·o·lu·tion noun \ˌre-zə-ˈlü-shən\

: the act of finding an answer or solution to a conflict, problem, etc. : the act of resolving something

: an answer or solution to something

: the ability of a device to show an image clearly and with a lot of detail