The Resolution

RING OUT WILD BELLS

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

 The flying cloud, the frosty light:

 The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind

For those that here we see no more;

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

-Alfred Lord Tennyson

I always found this poem to be a little creepy in my childhood, but in my adulthood, I find it truly profound.  Is this not how we should approach each new year..........with the resolve to become new?  To let the old, us die and be reborn through the Christ child that we just honored in our Christmas celebration.  What do you want this year to be, or to bring?  How would you change?  What do you want to see?  I've heard that we should be the change we would like to see in the world.  

The new year is always littered with talk of "goal setting" and "resolutions", but does this really bring about change, or is it simply an exercise in wish lists or hopes?  Truthfully, I've never been great at writing down new goals or resolutions.  When people talk about it sometimes, I think, "why should I write down a list of things that I probably won't stick to completing?"  A week or so ago I thought, "I really want to eat an apple a day this coming year! Maybe that will be my resolution."  I know that seems simple and maybe even weird to you, but I remember when I was pregnant, I ate an apple every single day and I remember feeling really good.  So even though we are a few days shy of the new year I have already started that.  

 

I think about things I need to do better and want to do better.  I guess I should make an effort to write them down. I'll share some with you.......not 300, haha!

 

 I would like to lose a few pounds and get into better shape; I want to eat better overall.  

 

I want to be a better parent.  

 

I want to dance more!  

 

I want to improve my piano and singing skills.  I want to learn a new song.  I want to get my flute fixed and start playing again. 

 

 I want to overcome my stage fright and I would like to someday see myself in a play.  I would like to see myself perform on stage like I've always envisioned, like truly putting my heart into it and convey all that I feel in my heart to the audience, and they cry instead of me! Haha! (I'm really emotional when it comes to the arts, especially music!)

 

 I want to be a better teacher and mentor to others.  

 

I want to see God's children the way He sees them, I want to be more empathetic and compassionate. 

 

I want to overcome pain and hurt in my past and really move forward with resolve to fully forgive.  I am truly fascinated by those who can fully forgive and what all of that really means.

 

I want to get out into nature more and away from screens.  I want to give more experiences to my children.  

 

I want to be a stronger force for good in the world.  I want to have more courage to do right things and spread the Word of God to all nations.  

 

I want to resist argument and contention as it finds me.  I want to improve how I approach discussion so I can see others' perspectives more clearly.  

 

I want to be more patient in all things, even suffering.  

 

I want to save more money and pay off debts. 

 

I want to improve my yard.  

 

I want to read scriptures more diligently.  I want to pray more.  

 

I want to have more spiritual experiences.  

 

I want to allow myself to feel God's love more completely.  

 

I want to improve the way I see myself.  I want to grant myself more grace and not be so hard on myself all of the time.

 

I want to have the courage and conviction to ask God for things I haven't before.  

As you can see there are a lot of things, I can think of that I want.  I could go on................but I'm not sure I could get to 300 as Steve Harvey suggests.  He says to write down your vision plainly as the bible councils.  When you see the words, you see the vision.  Once you have your list you put it as your desk top background, or hang it up where you can always see it.  I've heard that you can do this with positive things too.  For example: take your favorite positive quote or uplifting thought and hang it on your mirror, tape it to containers in your fridge, put it in your lunch box, put it in your phone, put it in several places where you will see it several times a day.  This works!  Soon enough you will think more positively.  You can do this with yourself too.  Write down positive things about yourself and place it where you will see it many times a day.  The power of positive thinking can do amazing things for your life, mind, and overall health.

Have you ever heard "The shortest pencil is better than the longest memory"?  A teacher told me this once and even had it on a banner in the classroom.  I always prided myself on having a fantastic memory, but there is something about writing things down.  My entire college career was based on writing everything down.  When you take your own notes in class and write it down, I mean with a pen or pencil, freehand, not typing, you remember the class better and overall do better on tests.  So, this can be applied to goals and resolutions.  I always think about things, but I don't usually write it down, so I'm going to try this!  If you write down the goal on paper, will you be more inclined to achieve it?  Based on what I know about writing things down from college, I'm guessing this will work.  Just because I haven't always written down what I want or my goals, doesn't mean I have not changed for the better or achieved anything.  Like the apple thing, I haven't written that down, but I've been doing it!  

 

 I was inspired by one of my amazing coworkers to write about this

subject.  She went through some trauma this past year and she talks about how it has changed her so much in very unexpected ways.  Today she shared with me how she wanted to start to journal again and she read her goals from last year.  She was surprised to see just how much she had changed and achieved in this past year.  She said, "when you write things down and then go back and look after the year is passed, you see just how different you have become, and you are surprised at how much you can check off of the list."  Maybe that's why it's important to write things down.  It's like a personal log.  When you go back to your previous vision, you self-assess and that in and of itself can be a powerful force to propel you forward in whatever it is you try to achieve.  You can see where you started and then where you are in the moment, or where you ended up.

If you know me, you know that I love words and their meaning and all the different ways you can use them!  What does the word Resolution mean? 

 

- A firm decision to do or not do something

 

-The quality of being determined or resolute

 

-The act or process of resolving

 

- The act of answering: SOLVING

 

-The act of determining

 

-The passing of a voice part from a dissonant to a consonant tone or the progression of a chord from dissonance to consonance

 

-Something that is resolved

 

- The process or capability of making distinguishable the individual parts of an object, closely adjacent optical images, or sources of light.

 

- A measure of the sharpness of an image or of the fineness with which a device can produce or record such an image usually expressed as the total number or density of pixels in the image.  

 

I think these definitions are interesting to apply when thinking about New Year's resolutions!  When you write New Year's resolutions are you firm in your decision about your goal?  Are you resolute in what you want?  Are you determined to achieve?  Are you resolving something, or solving something in your life?  Are you determining something for yourself?  Are you making the dissonance in life sound consonant?  Are you making some individual part of your life more distinguishable?  Are you looking at something in your life more closely seeking for clarity in it's image? Are you seeking for sources of light?  Are you measuring the sharpness or fineness of something in your life in order to refine it further?  When writing resolutions are these things in existence at the beginning of our journey, or is this where we end up at the end of the journey?  Do we reach the resolution with these qualities?  Do we start with these qualities?  Well, I hear that it's all about the journey, and not the destination.  I would imagine that by reaching your resolutions you gain these traits, but I would guess you might start out with some of them too.  

 

I would challenge you to write something down this year, even if it's just one thing.  If you are really ambitious you could make a vision board.  I know that sounds cheesy, but I hear they really work!  It makes sense even on a psychological level.  I'm no psychologist, but I do believe in the power of positive thinking.  I believe that if you can see it, you can achieve it.  Writing it down or making a vision board just helps strengthen your determination and focus to get what you want.  I know that when I really, really want something and I have a resolute, determined focus, then it usually happens!  

 

I wish you well on your journey into 2023!  I hope it is a great year! Happy New Year!