New Year!!!
Posted by ivy on January 7, 2008
Its 2008!!!!!!!!!! whooh!!!!!!
its a new year ahead of us!!!!
What is good about the dawn of a new year is that it gives us an incentive to ’start again’, to discard the bad habits of the previous year and to begin afresh.
New Year’s Resolutions is always on the topic during this times. As I watch the television, many people relate their own resolutions and wishes this year, some have the same one, like what they have and want last 2007.
“New year’s resolutions? Easy to make, easy to break?”
I know this lines very well, but still I try to have some resolutions this year…
1. Wake up as early as 6:00am on days that have no classes.. ( oops,, i’m beginning to break this, my cellphone always alarm at 6am, i just wake up to shut it off, and continue my good sleep)... sorry
2. Wake up as early as 5:00 am on days with classes. (its too hard,, please adjust it at 6am) sorry again
3. Earn some money, start saving at the bank and even on piggy banks ( i can do this, i’m starting)
i find this article on the internet about new year’s resolution, check this out,, it might help...
By making new year’s resolutions are we inevitably setting ourselves up for failure? Often, the simple answer is ‘yes’!
Beginning Afresh
Discard the bad habits of the previous year and to begin afresh. We might resolve to meditate more assiduously, be more tolerant of others, to develop a greater to kindness in challenging situations, to resolve to follow the five precepts more consistently, to give more freely, and to be more focused on what is really important in life. But how do we stick to these promises to ourselves?
The Four Efforts
Grit and determination are no doubt necessary ingredients. The Buddha’s advice takes the form of the ‘four efforts’: the effort to avoid, the effort to overcome, the effort to develop and the effort to maintain. These are elements of the sixth factor of the eightfold path – Right Effort.
The effort to avoid is to avoid the ‘arising of evil’. If unwholesome thoughts should start to enter the mind – thoughts of ill-will, for example – we can turn our attention away from them and not let them intrude. Like someone bent on trouble who knocks at your door, you keep the door shut. If such thoughts have taken hold of the mind, however, we can attempt to overcome them by dispelling them. A useful analogy is ejecting someone from your house bent on doing you harm.
The effort to develop wholesome states such as benevolence and kindness is like inviting a welcome friend to your house. The effort to maintain is to make these wholesome states habitual to one’s mind, like asking the welcome guest to stay permanently.
Mindfulness
This is a useful framework for managing new year’s resolutions. It’s not just about giving things up, it’s also about replacing bad habits and inclinations with good ones. This is not usually an easy process – it requires commitment and perseverance. It means being aware of our negative tendencies and, where possible, nipping them in the bud. A key technique in this is sati or mindfulness. This means being aware – even alert! – to our mental and physical processes. In this way, one can avoid knee-jerk reactions to our everyday experiences.
New year’s resolutions are all about mental and physical health. It’s about that wise voice within that knows what’s best, urging us onward. But it is a voice we should learn to listen to all the time and not just at the turning of the year.
I wish you all the very best of health and happiness!
