Living Your Resolutions

We are all full of good intentions. But we are all creatures of habit and we can have habits which impede our progress. There is a way to carry our resolutions into effect. Invest 12 minutes of your time and see if you can take up the daily challenge of working to achieve some of the goals of your life.

Transcript

Dear friends,

Have you ever looked in the mirror,

Especially after holidays or festivities,

And realised you could do with losing weight?

The celebrations and the carefree dining with friends have all gone a little too far,

And it shows.

A few minutes later,

As you pass the kitchen press,

You think,

Well,

A little bit of chocolate would give me a boost before today's work.

Welcome to the normal everyday world of hard to keep resolutions,

Which is the theme of this meditation.

We begin by settling down,

Granting ourselves a few moments of calm,

Allowing ourselves to just be,

Giving ourselves the gift of a few moments when we step off the treadmill of doing,

And allow ourselves to rest on the cushion or in the armchair of being.

Welcome to the present moment.

Let us dedicate these moments of reflection to all the people who have been good to us or whose work has supported us in the last seven days.

People known and unknown,

Without whom life would be much more difficult.

We give thanks for each and every one of them.

So back to the mirror and the chocolate.

And by the way,

I'm not singling out chocolate,

Because I don't know what I would do without my supply.

But chocolate is an easy example of how our intentions can differ from our actions.

There are others of course.

We resolve to learn a new language.

We know that if we are to be successful,

We need to practice a few words every day.

We need to listen to the spoken word,

Read the written word,

Watch something on YouTube.

This won't happen based only on our good intention.

We resolve to become more fit.

So we need to walk rather than hop into the car.

We could use the stairs rather than the lift or the escalator.

Maybe join a gym.

This won't happen based only on our good intention.

And it is said everyone has at least one book in them.

We resolve to write that book.

Good idea.

But we need to sit down each day in front of a blank page.

We need to write something.

Anything.

Just get it down.

This won't happen based only on our good intention.

Let's pause.

Let's consider how we may have failed to bring some of our good intentions into practical effect.

This is not intended to cause us discouragement.

This is simply to remind us what we need to do in order to achieve the next objectives that we will set.

This is not time out to ask us to beat ourselves up.

This is simply a breathing space so we can notice what we might have missed but only up to this point.

Welcome back.

There is a solution.

There is a better way to carry our resolutions into effect.

And it's based on the nature of time.

It has to do with the importance of this minute,

The importance of the now.

It has been said in monetary terms that if you take care of the pennies,

The pounds will take care of themselves.

Or in more everyday words,

If you take care of the cents,

Then the dollars and the euro will take care of themselves.

And so it is with our time.

If we pay attention to the minutes,

The hours will fall into place.

And so it continues,

Hours to days,

Days to weeks,

Weeks to months,

Months to years,

And years making up the gift which is our lifetime.

So if the desire is to lose weight,

We don't have to think in terms of the instant loss of kilos or stones.

We just have to resist the habit of reaching for the next biscuit,

The next piece of cake or the next bar of chocolate.

The good news is that we don't have to abandon these goodies forever,

Or even for today.

We just have to break the habit of reaching for them mindlessly.

And when it comes to language lessons,

We just have to do lesson one today,

Lesson two tomorrow,

And we must decide not to give in on days three to one hundred.

Our desired book does not require a decision on the title,

The font,

The cover and the binding on day one.

On day one all we need to produce is one paragraph,

But we need the same on days two,

Three,

Four and so on.

That is assuming that we really intend to write the book.

Let's pause and see if there is one some day project that we would really like to undertake,

And let us resolve to take the first step today.

Let us firmly make up our minds to stick with it until we bring it to fruition.

At some point we might consciously decide that it's really not worth the effort,

And that's ok too.

We give the plan a chance,

But we don't carry on regardless.

There are other plans that might have better prospects of success.

Welcome back again.

And it's the same with the wish all of us have to live a good and worthwhile life.

In this we should not worry about the grand achievements,

The great moments.

Maybe they will happen to us,

They do happen to some people,

But only sometimes.

But for all of us,

The young,

The old,

The rich,

The poor,

The talented and the average,

The introverts and the extroverts,

It doesn't matter.

For each and every one of us,

Our lives are made up of moments.

Each of these are moments of opportunity.

Opportunity to do a good deed,

Let someone out in traffic,

Help someone across the road,

Fetch a message for someone housebound,

Offer the listening ear,

The kind word.

There's no limit to the everyday simple possibilities.

And if we take care of these moments,

The everyday moments of opportunity,

The days,

Weeks,

Months and years will take care of themselves.

And when the time comes and we look back over the map of our life,

We will be amazed to see that a pretty good picture has been created and all without us ever having noticed the painting.

We will be very surprised as we find out that we have to admit,

Well done,

Very well done and hasn't it been an amazing journey?

Namaste.

Reviews

Tony, thank you! Such a simple and encouraging view of how to change habits ot begin new projects!
Have a lovely day!
Donna

Best wishes for this new year Tony. Many thanks for this positive meditation. With my resolve to live with ease and kindness helpful for the reminder to take things moment by moment. Work in progress! Namaste 🙏🌍💚

Wonderful! As usual. Thank you Tony. You're the best!
🙏✨✨✨✨✨✨👼🙌

Thank you for the reassurance and motivation 🙏🏻❤️

Well done, very well done!

Beautiful meditation! Thank you!

Absolutely wonderful meditation Tony, thank you so much! By breaking it down to moment by moment you have given me hope that I may actually become the person I want to be. It is a very moving meditation. Thanks again

Wonderful friendly voice and a strong message: this will help me achieve my goals without clinging to them too tightly.

Peace, Love n Cheer!

Wonderful meditation, thank you Tony! As always, I find your words so inspiring and motivating; I’ll return to this often for encouragement. Namaste🙏❤️

Very encouraging! Thank you!

Encouraging and comforting Tony. Namaste.

Beautiful as always Tony. This practice gives me Compassionate support as I continue my journey towards more and more healthful eating. I find that new challenges arise at surprising points along the way. Yet, the greater freedom and simplicity of being(and doing!) are worth it indeed! Many thanks and Many Blessings to you and the IT community. 🌻🐢🦋

Thank you. May you be happy and peaceful. Namaste 🌿

Tony, always lovely to open Insight Timer & discover a new meditation by you. This is a lovely meditation to pause and be grateful and set up new intention. Go raibh maith agat. Namaste 🙏

Thank you Tony Blessings from Melbourne

Thank you Tony 🙏🏼

Great!! Thanks a lot for sharing your wisdom.
Namastè 🙏🏻