Resolutions

Whenever I head for Great Falls I always make sure I have my cell phone, my wallet, and my truck keys. Those are important. By the time I’ve been on the highway for even two minutes, I remember something else. I wish I had some eye drops with me. There is some micro-dust in the air between here and there that causes my eyes to feel irritated. It wouldn’t be advisable to put in eye drops while driving but, theoretically, if I had eye drops with me I could use some before I start driving and before I start home to Cascade.

It is an irritant, both literal and that I can’t seem to remember to do this small thing. Hopefully, by the time this is published, we’ll have some snow to cut down on whatever dust is causing the problem.

This time of year the media is filled with articles telling us how to keep our New Year’s Resolutions. I never make any so that’s not an issue for me. The answer though, on keeping resolutions is the same as my need to remember eye drops, simply pay attention. When we give anything the flame of our attention, we deal with it. We may do whatever it is rightly or wrongly but we do remember to do something about it.

I currently have, within arm’s reach, some paperwork I have to do. I don’t want to do it so I push it out of my mind until I’m in a time crunch and absolutely must get it done. Procrastination is the fine art of learning to ignore what we don’t want to do which usually causes us more annoyance than just getting it done. I could, right now, put my laptop down and go find the eye drops and put them with my truck keys but I don’t. I’d rather get this written than do that simple thing that would help with what’s been annoying me.

It is part of the human condition that we act contrary to our own best interests with great regularity. We do what is easier rather than what is necessary. I try to catch myself when I say, “I didn’t do this or that because I had to do something else” when the honest answer is, “I didn’t do this or that because I didn’t want to.” At the very least if I did that I wouldn’t be lying to myself.

Being honest with ourselves is a great way to reduce anxiety of feeling like we really should do this or do that when we don’t want to. If I admit I don’t want to do the stupid paperwork it becomes, psychologically, less of a mental burden. Why that is I can’t say. Perhaps someone better versed in psychology could explain it to me, Nevertheless, I know it’s true.

So, I’ll make one resolution, I will endeavor to be more honest with myself about my motivations. It’ll make the new year easier to manage.