Resolutions?

I think I like them!

I like the renewed optimism which new year's resolutions bring to bear on dealing with one's "issues" and/or "problem behaviours".

I have not been in the habit to make them, though! Probably because , for the last few years (let's call them the post-therapy years) I have been blessed with a profound sense of optimism and with the confidence that I can only be getting better; and because before that, I wouldn't have had a clue as to what needed to be addressed!

Awareness and faith in the self would, therefore, seem to be the linchpins of any serious resolution making.

This year, optimism abounds, faith in the self is unmarred, but I can't find a particular area to focus on. It's not that I think I am perfect, -honestly, I don't!-, it's that I am already doing a lot of the things I think I need to be doing. Does that make sense? Would you like an example?

OK, let's talk about "gossip". I have never been what you would call a galloping gossip...Nevertheless, I became aware some time ago that I do talk about others, as a means of entertaining, rather than as a monger of secrets.(Secrets ARE safe: do not worry on that score!). So there's something I have been working on for ages: not concerning myself with passing on information about others. It is very hard: especially in the close network of friends who know each other well, where it could pass for sharing news...I found myself listening to a conversation bewteen two people in my sitting room recently, in which I just could not participate, because they were "discussing" a third party...

What IS interesting, is that for ever and a day, I have been a very vocal, lively, chatty member of any gathering. I thought if I didn't make a contribution to a conversation, my grand input would be missed...Hey! Good news! It really isn't! I can sit and listen, and say nothing -those who know me will appreciate what a departure from the norm that is!!!!-, and no-one will even notice. Mind you! If they did, they'd probably think I am too ill and too tired to chat as usual! So, on the quiet, I am learning to listen...

Well I am planning to continue with this effort, can you call that a resolution? I'm not sure...

I suppose the next step would be skilfully to change the subject? So far I haven't yet mastered that. I do know some lovely people who are adept at changing the subject, when the conversational territory does not suit them. I find myself thinking: "Oh, they've changed the subject"...and going along with them, as I don't much mind what the topic of conversation is, since my friends are, after all, a bit of the creme de la creme, kindness and morality-wise, even if I say so myself...

I suppose, the one thing I AM going to work on is the area of tact. I haven't got much, and I love it when other folks do! I want some!

I'off to think about how to be more tactful!

And I dare say that's a pretty good resolution to make after all, since I hadn't started to work on that particular weakness.

The Great Adventure of Self Improvement continues! (I didn't mean to make it sound so pompous, by the way, but I am not going back on the sentiment that last phrase expresses, either!)

Now, about the disaster in Asia. I hope that the British Governement will recognise the generosity of the British public in their contribution to the disaster fund (through www.dec.org.uk/) as a true mandate for increasing its own pledge of help and relief.

So to any who venture this way, much love again, and wishes for a congruent self,

Jocelyne