Looking Ahead To The New Year - Grasshopper

I was looking at my calendar and realized Christmas is almost here. And right behind it – here comes the New Year.

Nobody’s thinking about New Year’s resolutions yet. But give it a couple of weeks and you may run out of ink writing them all down.

Here’s the problem, though . . . resolutions don’t work. And if we’re being honest, the evidence trail left behind by our own resolutions kind of proves it.

Now yes, there’s that one time – one out of a zillion – when a resolution actually did stick. But my sense is, that had less to do with the resolution itself and more to do with awareness.

There’s really no power in a conscious resolution. It’s just an everyday thought in a fancy dress or tuxedo.

We have thoughts and intentions all the time that we never act on, so what makes the New Year thought any different? Nothing.

So what about that one time it did work?

My guess is . . . you became aware of your awareness. And that’s a rare thing – but it pays long-term dividends.

It’s the one New Year’s resolution worth committing to. “Dear diary, this year my goal is to become aware of my awareness.”

It’s like a pregnant cat – it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Most resolutions are just conscious desires. And when they stay at that level, they’re about as fleeting as the wind.

Awareness, on the other hand, is steady. It outshines conscious thought every time. You just have to notice that you have it.

Now here’s the part you’re probably gonna hate . . . It takes practice. Regular practice.

Let me show you that you already have awareness. Please notice the sensation in your left wrist right now.

Before I mentioned it, it probably wasn’t in your awareness. But there’s a good chance it is now.

That’s the first discovery – realizing that things are happening outside of our conscious awareness all the time. The next step is to intentionally exercise it. That’s what “becoming aware of being aware” really means.

When we use awareness, things begin to change.

A lot of the habits we want to outgrow operate completely outside of our awareness. We think writing them down on a piece of paper will kick off change. At best, that works temporarily.

For long-term change, we have to notice the unnoticed while it’s happening.

That means when we catch ourselves slipping into an old groove, we interrupt it. That moment – right there – we’re at the doorstep of change. Practice is what gets you across the threshold.

The word resolution comes from resolve. And when you look up resolve in your handy-dandy dictionary, you almost always find its loud, boisterous, ineffective cousin: willpower.

That reminds me of an expression I heard during my military days . . . “He’s got an alligator mouth with a hummingbird ass.”

Awareness, by comparison, is the 800-pound gorilla.

Practicing awareness means going past the surface. It gets you past reason. A lot of people stop once they find a reason for their behavior – they feel like they’ve struck gold. But that’s usually where justification lives. And justified behavior tends to stick around.

Awareness doesn’t justify. it doesn’t explain. It just notices.

It’s a pure thing – awareness aware of itself.

So this year, consider making awareness your goal, not a list of conscious resolutions. Awareness is the catalyst for all change.

Here’s a New Year’s resolution actually worth writing down – think of it as a daily intention, or a daily prayer: “Make me aware.”

All the best,