Another year is over. Before the hands of time struck the final minute of 2012, we all had a clear vision of what we wanted for our 2013 -- the so called "New Year Resolutions". Some made a promise to live healthier e.g. lose weight, stop smoking, etc. Others have more abstract resolutions like, "will be happier", "will smile more", "will be more sensitive", etc. And there are others like me with a very simple resolution, go on a "no rice diet". In the business lingo, this goal makes a lot of sense because it is SMART (S=specific, M=measurable, A=attainable, R=relevant and T=timely). There is no way this cannot succeed as it makes for a perfect goal. However, there was a big flaw in the plan -- as the clock struck twelve, I had my right hand flexing its muscles with a spoonful of rice. Need I say more? To make long story short, I was doomed to fail from the get go. And so I welcomed 2013 with a broken promise.
I am quite sure I am not alone in this world. In fact, there are a lot of people just like me. Based on a study of 3,000 people in 2007, 88% of New Year resolutions fail. What is even alarming is the fact that 52% of the participants were confident of success at the beginning. Makes you wonder what it is that makes New Year resolutions fail.
According to research, the failure can be attributed to how the brain is wired. A group of brain scientists have discovered using MRIs that habitual behavior, i.e. those that we try to banish at every change of year, is created by thinking patterns that create neural pathways and memories. This is then transformed into a default behavior that a person turns to when faced with a choice or decision. The key to success is to be able to re-wire the brain.
Great! Now we know how it works. So to undo it, we make resolutions to rewire our thinking pattern and create a new set of default memory. Sounds simple, set our goal, stick to it, and we banish the evil, a.k.a. bad habit. Unfortunately, it is not that simple.
There is a more powerful presence in the human grey matter that is much stronger than "thinking power" -- the power of the subconscious mind. It is the part of our brain that takes over us when we sleep, or when we have given up on thinking or finding reason or logic. It is the part of our brain that processes impulses from external energies wishing to connect us back to the pool of energy where we so rightly belong -- the universe.
Confused yet? I have gone from "New Year resolutions" to "the subconscious" to "the universe". You must be thinking, "This guy is nuts!” Stay a while and hear me out.
When we make a resolution, what we try to do is we attempt to re-program our brain to replace a "bad habit" with a more desirable one. Take for example a simple resolution to quit smoking; you would say, "I will quit smoking in 2013". Every time you feel the urge to smoke, you remind yourself of your resolution. You fight the urge. You win. The urge comes back and tests your resolve. You remind yourself again. You fight it. You win. With every battle won, the urge gets stronger and "smarter". It finds a new way to get to you, it overruns you and you give in. The reason the urge gets stronger is because with every reminder your conscious brain dishes out, the subconscious brain taps in your sensory receptors and interprets the "struggle" as a bad case of longing, of wanting something so bad. After all, there would not be any struggle if you did not want is so bad, right? And so with each cycle, the urge gets "smarter" with the help of the subconscious, and they both embark into a journey to find an excuse for you to give in. A classic excuse I use to not quit smoking is "smoking is an amazing socialization tool". Ask any smoker and they would immediately agree with me. But ask any non-smoker and you get a "that is bollocks!" response. It is all in the programming.
Now what has universe got to do with all of these s#!t, you ask? Well, the universe is where all the energies connect to. Whether you are a person, a dog, a fly or a table, the universe is your base, the very core of your existence. That is why they say “enlightened people” are one with the universe. Over the years, people have found various ways to name the “connection” in a manner that relates to them the most. The monks call it meditation, athletes call it focus, religious people call it prayer, astrologers call it horoscope, and many other names we may not even have heard of. They are all different methods of reflection that aim to bring us closer to the source – the universe. Unfortunately, it is us, people, who tend to obstruct this connection. With our never-ending pursuit to get good grades and become the “brightest and the smartest” in class, to our unfaltering desire to come up with the “latest technological breakthrough” that will make life easier, to our endless quest for glory, fame and riches, we have disconnected ourselves from what we are destined to do or to be. It is in this state of disconnect (known or unknown) that we only start to reflect. Then we find something that does not fit. We make a conscious effort to change it and re-“invent” ourselves and the New Year resolution is born! New Year resolutions are nothing more than motivators we use to re-invent ourselves.
Here is the sad part. With all the earthly pursuits, we become so busy being busy that we need New Years to remind us to reflect once a year. Even more sad is the fact that this once a year thing fails 88% of the time! The “New Year resolutions” culture has become part of our programming – a bad one if I may say so. I would go a step further and blame the “New Year resolutions” culture for the decline of our society. Our societies’ collective conscious minds have set one “mandatory” day in a year for reflection when we should be reflecting every day, if not every hour of our lives. To a dying man, every day is a gift. And here we are waiting for the 365th gift of the year before we start reflecting on how precious the ones we already wasted.
We get busy wanting more money than we can ever spend, rather than sharing them to those in real need. We get busy inventing things to make life easy rather than doing manual chores to keep us fit and healthy. We get busy wanting to be loved rather than to be giving love. We get busy finding friends to lean on to rather being the friend to lean on to. Then at the end of the year, you realize you have no money, you are fat, no one loves you and you have no friends! Then it is the New Year, and it is time to reflect! I really think reflection should be an ongoing thing that happens daily. New Year resolutions should be outlawed if we are to save this society in decline.
We all should stop making stupid new year resolutions and make a constant effort to make small incremental changes everyday. Small daily changes give us better fighting chance than one big yearly direction change that tends to overload our systems. Everyday should be a constant endeavor to reconnect with the universe, break beyond the limitations of our conscious pursuits and the unwelcome reprogramming of our subconscious mind by the little conscious choices we make. Time to go back to the basics that our parents have taught us. This will be my last new year resolution and I am confident that I will be part of the 12% who succeeded. I resolve that from now on, I will no longer make New Year resolutions! Part of me tells me this is the right way to go...
.. or maybe it is my subconscious helping me make an excuse... Finding a justification for failing my New Year resolution.
Well, I let you be the judge.
Have a blessed and prosperous new year!
I am quite sure I am not alone in this world. In fact, there are a lot of people just like me. Based on a study of 3,000 people in 2007, 88% of New Year resolutions fail. What is even alarming is the fact that 52% of the participants were confident of success at the beginning. Makes you wonder what it is that makes New Year resolutions fail.
According to research, the failure can be attributed to how the brain is wired. A group of brain scientists have discovered using MRIs that habitual behavior, i.e. those that we try to banish at every change of year, is created by thinking patterns that create neural pathways and memories. This is then transformed into a default behavior that a person turns to when faced with a choice or decision. The key to success is to be able to re-wire the brain.
Great! Now we know how it works. So to undo it, we make resolutions to rewire our thinking pattern and create a new set of default memory. Sounds simple, set our goal, stick to it, and we banish the evil, a.k.a. bad habit. Unfortunately, it is not that simple.
There is a more powerful presence in the human grey matter that is much stronger than "thinking power" -- the power of the subconscious mind. It is the part of our brain that takes over us when we sleep, or when we have given up on thinking or finding reason or logic. It is the part of our brain that processes impulses from external energies wishing to connect us back to the pool of energy where we so rightly belong -- the universe.
Confused yet? I have gone from "New Year resolutions" to "the subconscious" to "the universe". You must be thinking, "This guy is nuts!” Stay a while and hear me out.
When we make a resolution, what we try to do is we attempt to re-program our brain to replace a "bad habit" with a more desirable one. Take for example a simple resolution to quit smoking; you would say, "I will quit smoking in 2013". Every time you feel the urge to smoke, you remind yourself of your resolution. You fight the urge. You win. The urge comes back and tests your resolve. You remind yourself again. You fight it. You win. With every battle won, the urge gets stronger and "smarter". It finds a new way to get to you, it overruns you and you give in. The reason the urge gets stronger is because with every reminder your conscious brain dishes out, the subconscious brain taps in your sensory receptors and interprets the "struggle" as a bad case of longing, of wanting something so bad. After all, there would not be any struggle if you did not want is so bad, right? And so with each cycle, the urge gets "smarter" with the help of the subconscious, and they both embark into a journey to find an excuse for you to give in. A classic excuse I use to not quit smoking is "smoking is an amazing socialization tool". Ask any smoker and they would immediately agree with me. But ask any non-smoker and you get a "that is bollocks!" response. It is all in the programming.
Now what has universe got to do with all of these s#!t, you ask? Well, the universe is where all the energies connect to. Whether you are a person, a dog, a fly or a table, the universe is your base, the very core of your existence. That is why they say “enlightened people” are one with the universe. Over the years, people have found various ways to name the “connection” in a manner that relates to them the most. The monks call it meditation, athletes call it focus, religious people call it prayer, astrologers call it horoscope, and many other names we may not even have heard of. They are all different methods of reflection that aim to bring us closer to the source – the universe. Unfortunately, it is us, people, who tend to obstruct this connection. With our never-ending pursuit to get good grades and become the “brightest and the smartest” in class, to our unfaltering desire to come up with the “latest technological breakthrough” that will make life easier, to our endless quest for glory, fame and riches, we have disconnected ourselves from what we are destined to do or to be. It is in this state of disconnect (known or unknown) that we only start to reflect. Then we find something that does not fit. We make a conscious effort to change it and re-“invent” ourselves and the New Year resolution is born! New Year resolutions are nothing more than motivators we use to re-invent ourselves.
Here is the sad part. With all the earthly pursuits, we become so busy being busy that we need New Years to remind us to reflect once a year. Even more sad is the fact that this once a year thing fails 88% of the time! The “New Year resolutions” culture has become part of our programming – a bad one if I may say so. I would go a step further and blame the “New Year resolutions” culture for the decline of our society. Our societies’ collective conscious minds have set one “mandatory” day in a year for reflection when we should be reflecting every day, if not every hour of our lives. To a dying man, every day is a gift. And here we are waiting for the 365th gift of the year before we start reflecting on how precious the ones we already wasted.
We get busy wanting more money than we can ever spend, rather than sharing them to those in real need. We get busy inventing things to make life easy rather than doing manual chores to keep us fit and healthy. We get busy wanting to be loved rather than to be giving love. We get busy finding friends to lean on to rather being the friend to lean on to. Then at the end of the year, you realize you have no money, you are fat, no one loves you and you have no friends! Then it is the New Year, and it is time to reflect! I really think reflection should be an ongoing thing that happens daily. New Year resolutions should be outlawed if we are to save this society in decline.
We all should stop making stupid new year resolutions and make a constant effort to make small incremental changes everyday. Small daily changes give us better fighting chance than one big yearly direction change that tends to overload our systems. Everyday should be a constant endeavor to reconnect with the universe, break beyond the limitations of our conscious pursuits and the unwelcome reprogramming of our subconscious mind by the little conscious choices we make. Time to go back to the basics that our parents have taught us. This will be my last new year resolution and I am confident that I will be part of the 12% who succeeded. I resolve that from now on, I will no longer make New Year resolutions! Part of me tells me this is the right way to go...
.. or maybe it is my subconscious helping me make an excuse... Finding a justification for failing my New Year resolution.
Well, I let you be the judge.
Have a blessed and prosperous new year!
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