New Year, New TheME

I’m a big fan of personal improvement efforts at any time. That said, I do acknowledge that a new year, for many folks, represents a distinct, enticing, opportunity to make a significant change. Why not take advantage of it?

I personally tend to rebel against the word “resolution” simply because many people have experienced failure at sustaining resolutions. Instead, I’m a big fan of choosing a word or phrase that represents a personal theme for the new year. I know I’ve selected a good theme when I can run my moment to moment options up against it to gain clarity on my next right action. It’s an intention to behave in a certain way and, if successful, the shift should translate to improved life quality over-all.

This year, the word I’ve selected is QUALITY. Let me explain why: I’ve never had a hard time with self-discipline or habit formation. There are lots of upsides to this, however, the downside is that certain aspects of my life, although healthy, can become so routine and habitual that they cease to hold the same meaning and purpose, becoming less likely to lead to virtuosity and wonder and more likely to become compulsive, perfunctory and rote. 

As Anthony de Mellow writes in Awareness (a book I re-read at the start of each year, because of its potency):

“No great merit in it if it’s mechanical. The beauty of an action comes not from its having been a habit but from its sensitivity, consciousness, clarity of perception, and accuracy of response.”

By calling upon QUALITY I can inject the things I’m choosing with more attention, curiosity and presence, thus dramatically improving the quality of my moment to moment experience of being human. There is no schtick or gimmick, no need to purchase anything or keep track of a streak. Because I’m somewhat wired to think of “more as better”, my theme this year is a subtle reminder that what I have and what I am already doing is enough, especially if I’m willing to pay a high quality of attention to it.