New Beginnings

As this is my first blog posting of the New 2013 Year, I want to ruminate around what we humans, at least some of us, usually do around this time of the year, which is to look at our intentions for the coming months. Such resolutions for change are not taken very seriously, and are the subject of much humor at this time of year.  New Year's Resolutions are generally given little respect, along with low expectations of success, and are similar to our ideas about intentions in this regard.  Similarly, the word "intentions" has been given a bad reputations in modern times, as in, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions,"  or, "I didn't intend for that to happen!"

I have come to believe that this is an obfuscation of the power of intentions which is built into the statement, "It is my intention that...."  This, of course,  falls under the heading of magical thinking, putting it in opposition to, "scientific thinking," which is what we have been indoctrinated into believing is the highest form of rationality.  Anything of this nature is thus filed under the heading of those things which are considered to be impossible.  Life is full of the instances of the impossible, examples of which we may hear about, or read of occasionally in the newspapers, but, instead of being credited or, heaven forfend, celebrated, they are quickly forgotten by most.

I read a nice example of this in an article in my morning newspaper, part of which I quote:

After a year of near-record drought, the river, {the Rio Grand} began rising Nov. 20.  Through late December, the drought-starved ribbon of water that cuts through the heart of Albuquerque looked like its old self again, with flows near normal for this time of year. (John Fleck, UpFront, 1/1/13 Albuquerque Journal)

After making this statement, Mr. Fleck, effectively, ignores its importance.  To make clear how unlikely this renewal is, all of New Mexico, like most of the rest of the Southwest this last year, has had practically NO rain.  Making this renewal, of course, not only inexplicable, but impossible, according to scientific dogma.

One of the things I have been doing in the late evenings is to, "stumble" through the web site StumbleUpon.  The other evening, the following site came up: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/16lDzZ/www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EUy_82IChY/   This happened to be a re-make of a talk entitled: What's Invisible?  More than you think, which John Lloyd gave a talk that had been posted on TED Talks, (another site, and recommend, I also peruse periodically in the late evenings.)  After I went back and listened to the original talk, I have decided that this new version is more comprehensible; I recommend that you watch it.

As I have written about in other blogs, scientific thinking is based primarily on the Scientific Belief System tenant that nothing exists which is not physical.  This video shows how wrong this belief is, despite that it is one of the primary Beliefs of that System.

To get back to intentions.  A statement of intention, which I use frequently, before going anywhere is a variation of: "It is my intention that I will be solid, balanced and firm on my feet all day today!"  I started doing this due to the fact that in the prior couple of years, I had taken a number of strange, but serious, falls, fortunately not doing any serious damage any of the times.  Interestingly, but admittedly not exactly proof of its effectiveness, since I started stating the above intention, I have only fallen once, and that was in my small yard a couple of weeks ago. (As I usually state that intention when I'm about to go somewhere in my car, I had not made it that day.)

This could be considered a variation of The Law of Attraction, which is the belief that one can change one's life by focusing on what you want in your life, rather than dwelling on any lack or problem you believe you have. This being the beginning of a New Year, reviewing how you approach life seems to me to be a good idea, rather than the assorted resolutions many of us make, which are very quickly broken.

In that vein, why is it that when individuals have failed to stay with a resolution, that they think it is okay to just consider it as trashed, and go back to their old way of living their lives?  Instead, why not impress upon oneself the ideas that, "Today is the first day of the rest of my life," or, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step."  The answer, of course, is that we are controlled by our habitual ways of being.

Our families, friends, and acquaintances are no help in this regard, as they anchor us in our old behaviors by their expectations and their own fears of changes.  If we don't change, we won't challenge them to consider the possibility that they might be able to change as well.

When changing ingrained habits, it is usually necessary to change all the habits, as well as beliefs, that go along with the old habit.  Say you regularly smoke when you go for a break of some kind, for example, a coffee break with friends.  If you wish to stop smoking, it will probably be necessary for you to stop taking those breaks with your friends, especially if they smoke, as well.  Or it may require you to become aware of what triggers your need for a cigarette; frequently stress.  Many women smoke because they believe it will keep them from gaining weight, an idea which I have read is incorrect.  In the long run, our self-perceived bad habits can all probably be traced to incorrect ideas, or an image of ourselves to which we cling.

Since one of my desires for this new year is to loose weight, beginning today, I am starting a fast.  I know from my past experiences with fasting that telling anyone about this plan will send that person or persons into paroxysms of concern for my health.  It is sometimes recommended that you do tell others about your resolutions, so they can, "keep you on the straight and narrow."  My recommendation is that you keep any plans for change to yourself, at least until some change is noticed, not so you can pretend you never made the plan in the first place, but to not be deterred from them through the, "good intentions" of your friends.

My best wishes for a wonderful New Year, and the realization of any plans for New Beginnings.

Shirley Gallup