Resolution

Lately I've been thinking and feeling really deeply.  

I think it's a mix of worldly circumstances, goals achieved and just a function of where I am in my life.  I find myself in thought way more than I ever have been.  Less time being reactive; less time spent outward.  

In many ways, I have been feeling a sense of resolve.  

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As we draw a calendar year to a close, it's only natural to begin to think about our own resolutions and what we may aspire to in the coming year.  It's a time to reflect and look back at all we accomplished...and didn't.  Most importantly, it's a time to understand why. (It's worth noting, too, that you don't have to wait until the end of the year to do any of this).

This year as I think about the end of December and the time I carve out for myself to think and feel, to evaluate, the idea of intention keeps popping up in my mind.  I wonder, is there an opportunity here to view resolutions alongside intention?  How do they relate?  

What I have boiled it down to at the moment is that I can only have a real resolution of any kind with an intention.  They are close relatives, but they are not the same.  As I've been circling around the idea in my mind, I'm reminded that intention comes before a resolution.  Whatever I want to resolve to do, must follow the intention I set out for myself.  Resolutions that don't follow this intention, or the why, will have a harder time sticking...or may not be a worthy pursuit at all.  

Recently I've been doing a lot of intending and then observing what comes next.  Each time, I'm blown away.  There is a power and clarity that comes with intention that just zeros right in on whatever it is that I'm working through.  

Because power accompanies intention, I also have to evaluate the responsibility of what I'm intending.  What product am I creating?  What energy am I putting out there?  Ultimately, who am I?  What am I? 

Big questions for a process that usually involves just swearing off sugar and alcohol and trying to lose a few pounds. 

What I'm saying is, that every time we have the opportunity to evaluate, we need to do so with awareness.  From that place of awareness, we can create a responsible and powerful intention for ourselves.  With the clarity of that intention, we can resolve.  We can resolve within ourselves.  We can create resolution outside of ourselves, too.  

It's a responsibility, but also a privilege.  To know ones-self and to make conscious choices, that's really living!  

And that's something I can absolutely raise a glass to at midnight!  

Cheers!