How resolved are you?
Use Thortspace to move from To-do list to Authentic Insight
I think the problem with the approach sketched out here on JourneyStrength.com , familiar as it is, is that it assumes a background of flawed cartesianism.
It probably is pretty familiar: you start off by imagining a way that something could be better, and then create action plans for making it happen. From vision to action to fulfillment — what could possibly be wrong about that?!
But these ideas lead us astray and into effort and struggle because effective action is much more engaged in the world than this model implies… effective action is much more like dancing and experimenting than it is like scheming. The action we take in the world is correlated to the way the world seems to us.
This is why new years resolutions that are like to do lists don’t work very well, because being resolved actually requires the whole of a person to be re-orgnanised on the basis of a new perspective, viewpoint or insight.
That’s why Heidegger says the way down is the way out — or something like that.
It is now officially 1st January 2019 (in the UK) ! Congratulations everyone, and welcome to a new year of possibility !
For me, this year I am investigating my approach to New Year’s Resolutions.
Typically New Years Resolutions tend to go something like this.
You make a list:
- Go to the gym twice a week
- Get more sleep, get better sleep
- Spend time playing with my children every day
- Do my fair share of the child-care
- Do my fair share of the house-work
- Eat more nutritious food and less carbohydrates
- Schedule my work assignments so as to deliver them on time
- Clear out the junk from the attic and garage
- Yadda yadda yadda … the list goes on
But as we all know, for most of us, 3 weeks into January, these kinds of “resolutions” have all been long forgotten, or serve as reminders that I’m “not good at keeping my promises”.
A resolution is not a to-do list item.
However, a resolution in its truest sense is not merely a to-do list or an item on a to-do list; although there may be lots of to-do items arising from it. A resolution in its truest sense is an alteration in the how the world seems to me.
I become resolved. The disparate parts of myself become realigned towards a new possibility that I hadn’t seen before. An insight — into myself, my family, my community, my values, my duties, my past, my future — arises. An insight that re-configures the way the world looks to me. I become resolute — not by becoming inflexible. I become resolute by being authentic.
So this year my first resolution is to resolve to take a different approach to resolutions.
So this year my first resolution is to resolve to take a different approach to resolutions. Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, I am creating my New Year’s Insights.
Insights are a kind of resolution, after all — like when you have a problem and you resolve what to do about it, or the stand you are going to take on the matter.
So this year, over the holidays, my plan is to use Thortspace (other thought-mapping software may also be available) to think about:
About myself,
about my life,
about the people I interact with on a regular basis,
about my circumstances,
about my projects,
about what I’m certain about,
about what I’m less sure of,
about what I value,
about what I like and what I don’t like,
about the world,
about the difference I want to make,
about what I care about,
about who I care about.
The graphic below shows the beginning of my inquiry into this.
I invite you to join me in 2019 in inquiring into the things that matter to you most. You are welcome to share in the comments any insights that arise out of doing this.
Happy 2019, everyone !
