Tuesday, January 01, 2013

CDXXXVI - Reality Check


It is my view of resolutions that you are far better off resolving to improve
what you currently do rather than change something major. 
That’s not to say some people don’t pull off major changes but most of us don’t.
But you will get more success and pleasure from improving an existing skill.
Like cooking.  Or poetry.  Or being a friend.


Reality Check

A ‘clean slate’s just a metaphor,
Not a really apt one.
While resolutions come each year
No-one’s ever trapped one.

And yet —
It seems we do forget.

Each year
We will, as I have found,
Do the same things as before;
With high hopes, each time round.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2013
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18 comments:

  1. So true! Now just off to work out how I went against last year's resolutions....:)
    Happy New Year JCN!

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    1. Thank you Frankie, a very happy New Year to you too!

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  2. I agree! Nothing generally changes in the new year!

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    Replies
    1. Good intentions dashed on the hard rocks of lethargy, usually. :-(

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  3. I don't make resolutions and though I always have good intentions I can see myself making some of the same mistakes all over again ... but perhaps this year I shall be a little wiser.
    I hope so.
    xoxoxo ♡

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  4. Totally true! Happy New Year!

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  5. I so agree with you, Cosmo..I never make resolutions...no point...I know I would break them!

    A very Happy New Year to you and your family. :)

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  6. This is all terribly sensible. I hope it is not an indication of what we are to expect for the rest of the year. Happy New Year! I don't feel well thsi morning. I resolve never to drink more than 3 ever again!

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  7. not bottles of course..glasses of bubbly. I drank about - too many anyway!

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  8. No resolutions here. I have no faith in myself. I muddle along from day to day - which mostly works. A reactive sort of life.
    Happy New Year to you and yours.

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  9. Happy New Year, JCN! All the best to you and yours.

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  10. Replies
    1. Of course I could. For individuals I most certainly am.

      But for the broader mass of humanity? Spot on. :-)

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  11. Ah my slate's never clean. There's always chalk dust lingering about. I like the idea of resolving to do better at whatever. Happy New year, JCN!

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  12. An interesting juxtaposition after reading the poem right before ... and I like what Pauline says about never having a clean slate. I, too, have decades worth of chalk dust lingering. I don't resolve, often, or on the first day of the year to do anything differently in life. But I do pause, reflect and hope for the bright days that lie ahead. And that, to me, is the beauty of new year resolutions: they bring out the hopefulness in us normally cynical, sensible, lazy (insert whichever adjective you prefer) humans. And that in itself is a small blessing.

    May your new year be as fascinatingly layered as the one that just past.

    xxx

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  13. is hope really all that bad? not that I'm big on the whole resolution thing; I do kind of like the idea of small improvements though...little steps can lead to bigger ones.

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You've come this far - thank you.
Take your time, look around,
There is lots to see.