Resolution

Today is the traditional day for resolutions. I wonder what I actually resolved in January 2008? If I resolved to do any of the following, then I'd be able to say I fulfilled my goals for 2008:

1)watch less television
2)read more often [clearly coincides with #1]
3)begin dating again
4)secure new responsibilities at work
5)nurture a love for reading in my son [see #1 and #2]
6)exercise regularly [I'm embarrassed to say it may be related to #3]
7)participate in a writing group
8)renovate my basement

Now, if I resolved to do the following in 2008, then I'd have to say I did not fulfill my goals.

1) organize my life
2) submit writing for publication regularly

I think I actually resolved to be more organized; in fact, I just found a "one year to an organized life" book published in early 08 with an uncracked spine. If I judge myself on this single resolution, I was an abyssmal failure in 2008. By comparison, I accomplished four times as many potential resolutions as not. In this case, looking back is more productive than imagining forward!

Considering resolution to solely mean "a formal expression of intentions" might simply be too limiting. Let's think of resolution in musical terms, that is "to cause [a voice part or harmony as a whole] to progress from a dissonance to a consonance". Everyday opens opportunity for resolution....dissonance to consonance, cacophony to harmony, conflict to peace.

So, for 2009, my resolution is make space for consonance even amidst the dissonant, to affirm the paradox of life.