Today we stand in a doorway. Today is not only the first day of January, a month named after the Roman god Janus, it’s the first day of a new year.
Janus was the god of gates and doorways, beginnings and endings. With two faces, one facing forward and one facing behind, Janus can see both the past and the future, and is often used as a symbol of transition.
What better time for resolutions. But if a new year’s resolution is a commitment to a lifestyle change, why do so many people make the same resolutions year after year? Because—what many call resolutions are often little more than goals. With a little persistence, a goal can be achieved. Achieving a goal requires little more than identifying an outcome and creating small actionable steps.
Even if you happen to achieve the goals you set for yourself, how likely are you to maintain the outcome. Whether your goal is to loose weight, stick to a budget, or get better organized, it’s not really a resolution unless it’s accompanied by a true paradigm shift.
A paradigm is a set of beliefs and values. A paradigm shift is that “ah-ha” moment when your beliefs and values are instantly altered. An “ah-ha moment doesn’t just happen, though. It is up to you to initiate that experience. You must expose yourself to new and diverse ideas. You must be willing to let go of old ways of being and embrace new ones.
A resolution is not a goal, but a transition. Like the two faced Janus, a true resolution is an apex, where the end of one thing meets the beginning of another. With a true resolution we step over a threshold from the past into the future.
