It’s the New Year and people are making their resolutions. There are all types of resolutions. Some of the top resolutions every year involve getting healthier, getting finances under control and spending more time with loved ones. Unfortunately, though, most New Year’s resolutions fail. People start well then, as the initial vigor and determination wear off, patterns and rhythms slip back to normal and resolutions turn into unfulfilled dreams. The problem with most New Year’s resolutions is that people try changing their outward behavior without transforming their inner lives and hearts.
Simply changing our behavior doesn’t work. We can give up certain foods, stop spending so much money and shave some hours off of our work week, but those won’t truly change us. Unless we change our hearts, motives and intentions, eventually our behavior will slide back to normal.
If we like to eat Taco Bell every meal and not exercise, getting a gym membership isn’t going to change our lives.
If we give into every impulse buy we come across, setting up a budget isn’t going to change our lives.
If we work 60 hours a week and spend weekends alone in front of the television, trying to have a family dinner once a week isn’t going to change our lives.
Simply addressing our outward actions does nothing to meet the root issues of our motives and intentions. Addressing outward actions may work for a week or a month, but eventually we’ll become creatures of our unchanged hearts.
New Year’s resolutions are a great way to motivate ourselves toward change. Simply changing our outward actions, though, no matter how motivated we are, won’t enact any lasting change. We shouldn’t just resolve to change our actions, we should resolve to change our hearts.
Changing how we feel about and interact with food will have a longer-lasting impact on our resolution to get healthier.
Seeking to gain control over our money instead of allowing our money to control us will have a longer-lasting impact on our resolution to better our finances.
Resetting our priorities and fitting work around those we love will have a longer-lasting impact on our resolution to spend more time with those we most care about.
If we really want to change, we can’t just resolve to address our actions. We have to peel back the layers of our lives and address our hearts, which ultimately feed our actions.
What resolutions have you made? How can you address the heart of the issue and not just the outflow of the heart?
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Talking about changing your heart with disciplines, money, fitness, eating, etc, increases my awareness of a way to have something become part of who I am, but what I could really use is practical application and examples...although your post is already geared at encouraging the reader to do that themselves, which works. As well, with practical application you need specific examples...
ReplyDeleteAs for my resolutions...which are simple but managable...and perhaps not as applicable to your concept as some resolutions...
I think I already have the right frame of mind for why I want to do these things...it's the focus and determination I need to get better at having.
Current resolutions
1) Lifting and cardio 2 times a week
2) Keeping my room/vehicle clean and organized
3) Majorly abstain from soda
Personal thought behind them...
1) Desire for better health and mood, increased sports and physical capability, and increased sense of self.
2) Living in an atmosphere that promotes doing the things in life I want and need to do for myself. I am curious to see if keeping my personal/resting space clean and organized has a positive effect on my mood and lifestyle. I wouldnt know since everything is always a mess.
3) It is not healthy, and I almost always could be drinking water which I do not drink enough of.
I usually do not make resolutions...but this year more than ever I saw purpose in periodically challenging myself to do something that I have wanted. Maybe I should do it more often than once a year.
-Kyle