WEEK #4 – HAVE YOU KEPT YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS?

Are you still on track or not?

Making New Year Resolutions is a long time activity going back many years. Wikipedia listed some of the more well-known ones:

• Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts.
• The Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named.
• In the Medieval era, the knights took the "peacock vow" at the end of the Christmas season each year to re-affirm their commitment to chivalry.
• At watchnight services, many Christians prepare for the year ahead by praying and making these resolutions.

There are other religious parallels that can be found in addition to the above:

• During Judaism's New Year, Rosh Hashanah, through the High Holidays and culminating in Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), one is to reflect upon one's wrongdoings over the year and both seek and offer forgiveness.
• People can act similarly during the Christian liturgical season of Lent, although the motive behind this holiday is more of sacrifice than of responsibility. In fact, the practice of New Year's resolutions came, in part, from the Lenten sacrifices.

Now, at the beginning of the year, the concept, regardless of creed, has become a time to reflect upon self-improvement and make a decision on how to make it happen.

The Murray Morris Group has tried to encourage and support you in our first three blogs about making and keeping your new year’s resolution. We offered tips and action plans and gave you a pep talk each week. Hoping you would feel encouraged and motivated.

Coming into week four of the New Year, you have either managed to stay on track, keeping your goals firmly in sight, or…. you have thrown in the towel and said, “There’s always next year!”

Either way, we at the Murray Morris Group are here if you want to comment on any of the New Year Resolution blogs. But going forward, our Friday posts will try and be more life style centered. We’ll find ways to incorporate healthy, happy and fun things from the Richmond area into all of our lives. We’ll talk about setting and keeping small positive goals that will change our current negative ones. That way, when next year rolls around, we’ve already incorporated these actions into everyday living, making New Year Resolutions unnecessary!