THOSE NEW YEAR EVOLUTIONS

John La Valle

I WROTE MOST OF this 2 years ago at this time and have decided to rewrite it, add a little here and there because of its popularity.

WHAT IS IT THAT has people "make" New Year Resolutions and then "break" them? We have a local pub here that has a "Break Your New Year's Resolutions Early - Why Wait?" party on December 30 each year. It kind of adds something to the ritual.

THE WORD *RESOLUTION* itself is a nominalization, a verb formed into a noun. It comes from the word "resolve", which means to solve, again!! And so many people get into a pattern of re-solving old problems and then not re-solving them because they then turn the process into an event, a static event. How about EVOLUTIONS?!! Evolving continuously, doing new things, get a new look, a new walk, a new talk, a new anything!!

INSTEAD OF MAKING "Resolutions", how about setting up new directions in which you want to be going this coming year, both personally and professionally? Take some goals, activities, behaviors that you want to be doing, and see yourself doing those in your future, just starting in the next few moments. If you're going to put those pictures into your future, be sure they're of behaviors - YOURS - that's you doing them, dissociate so you can see yourself doing them, then associate so you'll know what you'll be seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting. Then dissociate, see yourself doing them!! It's in your language, too.

REMEMBER, IT'S ONE THING to have goals that are outside of yourself, like that red *Testosterosa*, but without the behaviors, you may not know how to go about getting one, or even earning the money to get one. Remember to keep YOUR goals behavior-driven. That material thing is just the outcome of the outcome, it's the reward for doing certain behaviors!!

©2004 La Valle, all rights reserved in all media.