NO To Resolutions!!!

I am not making any New Year’s resolutions. Mostly because I hate the word. Resolution. It sounds as if there was a problem and now it needs to be solved. It implies that whatever I was doing was wrong and needs to be fixed. I hear Resolution and I think failure. The statistics back that up. Supposedly half of those who make New Year’s resolutions will have broken them six months into the year. For some failure will have them resolving to try again. For others they will just give up, decide whatever they were doing trying to fix what they decided was wrong is useless. They give up. It all sounds rather dark and foreboding to me. That’s why I’m not making any resolutions.

What I am making is intentions and I just happen to be starting them in January.

I hear intentions and I don’t think of problems. I think of desires to do things a little differently, whether that is eating healthier or waking up a half hour early to meditate. The intent to change, to shake things up. Freshen things a bit. Look and act from a new viewpoint. An intention doesn’t necessarily have a fixed outcome. Technically it is a noun, but I hear verb in the word. An action, a process with intent that may or may not arrive me where I envisioned. When I hear intention I feel as if I am conspiring with the Universe. Resolution sounds like I am pushing against it.

I’m working on my intentions for 2010. I intend to check in on them each month. See how I’m doing, whether they need adjustment or whether they need to be thrown out and substituted with a new one. Intentions allow for change. They’re based on my desires which are constantly evolving.

How about you ? Resolution or Intention?