Making your NY resolutions real life solutions

2020 is one full year of time given to you to prepare yourself not just for the next year, but for the entire life. I am not talking about the decisions that you are going to take on personal or physical aspects. All these vary from person to person based on their individual lives.  What I am going to give is not a resolution but a real solution. In fact, every resolution has to be a real solution which will raise you above the present level.

Everybody is longing for happiness which means all of us know what is happiness and we have all enjoyed it at some point of life. But the problem in humans is not in longing for happiness but the lack of knowledge on how to maintain that happiness which they have enjoyed or which they are enjoying. Now what is unhappiness? Any feeling that doesn’t make you feel good or pleasant is unhappiness. So what is that one thing you can do which may not give you happiness, but for sure will not give you unhappiness?  It’s forgiveness. Now I want everyone to take a list of people and events which made you upset or angry in the previous year. Then forgiveness is a possibility. The word forgiveness is not just a word; it’s an effort taken by both the body and the mind. It’s easy to say, “I forgive you’, but is it practically possible? No, it’s easy to say but not easy to do for people who don’t have mental strength.  The reason being for most of them, the pain and loss that they have gone through is irreversible. When the pain is real, it’s not easy to forgive. But still why am I talking about this as a resolution for the New Year? It is very simple. It’s not that you have to forgive but you need to forgive. If one thinks that money is the only wealth he possesses, he is the most foolish person in this entire world. Money is just a part of your wealth. The real wealth is time and health. Why do I insist on these both together?

Health is not just the absence of diseases. It’s the right condition in which you can protect yourself with what you have and raise yourself from the present level to the next level with what you possess. Anything that is going to affect your physical health is going to take time to recover from the health that you have lost. And the universal truth is that time is fixed for everyone. We may have different lifestyle, different cultures, different state of mind, but every human being has got only 24 hours a day and 60 minutes an hour.

So this new year, take a resolution to not waste time on things which are going to just suck your energy and give only unhappiness. One such activity is thinking about the past and people who made you upset and angry. It’s better to understand that one thing which will not change in life is time. Physical pain and suffering is manageable but thinking about someone who has given you pain in the past is not manageable. Everybody will have some secret which cannot be shared with anyone, thoughts that may be haunting you. Do not waste time on such past experiences. This is possible by taking a decision to forgive them. What do you mean by forgiving them? Of course, you can never forget the past incidents. You have no idea what is going to come to your mind as thoughts. But you have all the power to observe the thought and reject it before it affects you. One such practice is forgiveness. Forgiveness is not a decision, it’s a conscious effort taken to observe the thought which is making you feel bad about the past and having the ability to reject the thought before it affects you. Is it possible? Yes, this is possible by understanding a simple metaphor.

The difference between a child and a grown-up is having the ability to see beyond the present or understanding the consequences of an action. A child will enjoy an ice-cream but is not aware of the after-effects of having more ice-creams. He is not blessed with the ability to think beyond today like adults. Similarly, a child enjoys a chocolate for the moment but doesn’t know the dangers of tooth decay. Your ability to see beyond the present is the first power of human being once you take the conscious effort to raise yourself to the next level. And forgiveness is one such process which gives you self-confidence to see yourself as the most responsible person.

(To be continued…)