Today is a day for setting personal goals- resolving to go to the gym more regularly, to quit nasty habits, to makes changes in our lives. The first day of a new year is a popular one for making resolutions. I have not been one for resolutions- perhaps because they seem destined to fail. I find the idea of a revolution (a sudden, radical, or complete change) more exciting. And what do I wish to revolutionize? Not my life (at least not in 108 days), but rather, my satisfaction with life.
A fairly simple happiness quiz at Psychology Today revealed that I am 39% happy. The result came with the following assessment:
"Your score indicates that you are generally happy with your life, but there may be some things that you likely wish you could change or improve. Whatever the case, there are steps you can take to turn that occasional frown upside down. Research has shown that people who set challenging (but achievable) personal goals for themselves, who are intrinsically motivated (e.g. driven by a sense of achievement rather than money or status), and who generally believe that the course of their life is in their hands tend to be much happier than those who don’t. Of course, a much more positive outlook on life would definitely help as well!"
According to the experts, when we are not entirely happy with our lives and want to become more satisfied, attention to a couple of key areas could help:
1) letting go of the past and accepting that hoping for a 'perfect past' is a futile endeavor. What's done is done.
2) cultivate kindness, gratitude and compassion
Over the holiday season, I found myself more than usually aware of my current flaws and reflected on my hopes for the best me that I can be (as cliched as that amy sound). It occurred to me that I probably already know a lot of what I need to work on and some actions worth pursuing. It also occured to me that I will need some sort of discipline to acheive the sort of change I want in my life. I started to wonder whether a significant transformation was reasonable to expect over a short timeframe, hence the 108 days. Obviously, this kind of self-improvement or self-awareness work is a never-ending process. I simply want to challenge myself to achieve significant change in three and a half months. I plan to use this space to share the thinking and activities that I undertake and at the end of the 108 days, on April 17th, I will re-take the quiz to see whether there is a change. Not definitive, but at least it;s some sort of measureable benchmark.
