At the start of a New Year...

At the start of a New Year I think about New Year's Resolutions (of course!) And I think it's not a bad idea to have a few good intentions for the year but, let's face it, often they get broken before the end of January. So this year, trying to outsmart myself, I made no resolutions but I did find myself, on New Year's Day, talking about eating more healthily. I also watched part two of a documentary on Netflix called 'The Minimalists' which led to a conversation about clearing out clutter and leading a simpler life. I don't like clutter at the best of times so minimalism appeals no end and I was waxing lyrical to my partner about how we just need to consume less. Except that the very next day where were we? At IKEA buying stuff and then, because we were so hungry, we ended up binging on hotdogs and fries from the IKEA food bar as we left. How could we have fallen so far in the space of a day?!! But it taught me something. We are all human and none of us is infallible but the difference lies in our awareness of our actions. This is key to self-development. We need to see our behaviour. If we don't see it, we don't learn from it and so we don't grow. This is what the Enneagram does. It shows you your behaviours. It doesn't mean we can instantly switch them off - if only we could! - but it means we can have an awareness of them as they occur and, by being conscious of them, we have a choice. It may be that we choose to go ahead anyway (we did and we certainly had a laugh at ourselves) but it is that moment of conscious choice that is the game-changer. We choose to grow ourselves, or not. And if we choose not to, we know it. The knowledge makes all the difference. Are we unconscious or conscious of our behaviours? The good news is that if we are conscious of them we will eventually change. Why? Because I believe the knowledge of not choosing wisely and, therefore, of going against our own best interests becomes, in time, a burden. As such, it becomes something we want to avoid.

In the meantime.... Note to Self: Could try harder. (But the hotdog was really good...!)