Let me start with this:  I’m not against New Year’s Resolutions.  We are a few days into the new year, and I’m sure there are people working hard to keep new promises.  I would cheer on anyone trying to lose weight, get out of debt, read more books, watch less TV – whatever.

The painful truth about resolutions is that they are often dumped after a couple weeks of working at it – why?  One reason could be that we expected life to suddenly change – all because we said so.

There is a lot more to the decisions we make than just stating, “This year it’s going to be different!”  And when we find out that intentions don’t change reality, it can be discouraging… thus, two weeks of giving it my best, followed by fifty more weeks back at square one.

It’s like screaming at the soil, “Grow broccoli!”, when the ground has yet to be cultivated.  I’m talking about daily renewal; cultivating attitudes that can feed the big picture.  Knowing that my small, seemingly insignificant choices are the building blocks to my character, my haibts, and ultimately what will help me follow through on bigger choices.

And that takes time.  It takes struggle, failure, trying again.  To be successful then, I’m going to need to see myself (and this process) with a different perspective – a new way of thinking.  A renewed mind.