Aims and dreams of a new year

To be plunged deep into the dark drudgery of January straight from the highs and happiness of Christmas and New Year celebration is a pendulum swing of extremes that we shock our emotions with year after year.

One positive aspect of this otherwise bad dream of bland anti- climax is the custom to renew perspective and to give time and thought to goals we hope to achieve in the coming year and to the action we need to take to begin the journey towards these endeavours.

The concept of the so- called New Year’s resolution is one that attracts much scorn, criticism and lampoon, but my view on the custom is a very positive one. Anything that brings aspiration – of any kind - to the forefront of our consciousness has to be a good thing. The over-arching drive behind nearly all these individual aims is the road to happiness and fulfilment.

We humans are a terrible lot for trapping ourselves in the caves of convention and are reticent to change the courses which the circumstances of our lives so far have lead us to, even if we are unsatisfied in them.

So, I say, make the resolutions to begin your voyage, whatever that may be. Join the gym, learn to cook, change your job, lose weight, put on weight, climb Ben Cruachan, learn to knit, start a business. shut a business, give up smoking, start smoking, be richer, be poorer, socialise more, live like a hermit or learn to play the trumpet – what ever it is you want to do, fire on, and if it doesn’t work, or your goals change in the process then adjust your course accordingly.

Conversely, if your aim is to keep living exactly the way you are just now and keep doing what you are doing, you’ve probably already ‘cracked it’, so that is exactly what you should continue to do. Some of the most contented people I have met are in this category.

Aims and dreams are the primary catalyst for progress in life and to make plans to follow them is a ‘no-lose’ quest. Adhering to your New Year’s resolutions may not last and goals may not be achieved, but one thing is sure - if you don’t know what your goals are or take no action, you will certainly never attain them. The following is a very simple wee poem on the concept.