Jan 19, 2014

The Easiest New Year’s Resolution of All

by Linda Egenes

Fresh beginnings, a fresh new you—that is the promise of the New Year. But then there’s the pesky problem of actually keeping those New Year’s resolutions (lose weight, go to bed earlier, drink less coffee, etc..). When we have the best of intentions, and these are all good things to do for ourselves, why is it so difficult to make them stick?

Perhaps we need to look at the word “resolve” in a new way. A real resolution comes from deep inside. Resolve itself is a kind of connection with one’s own inner Being. If resolve comes from the inside, it will have a much greater chance of success.

Let’s suppose, for example, that you resolved to eat fresh fruit for dessert instead of heavy sweets. So now you have sitting in front of you a piece of key lime pie and an apple. You can use your will-power, knowing intellectually that the apple is better for you, to force yourself to eat the apple, and that is one way of keeping your resolution.

But it’s so much easier if by natural inclination, by natural desire, you actually prefer to eat the apple over the key lime pie. Then there would be no conflict between what is good for you and what you actually want to do, no conflict between resolve and desire.

The reason you would do that is that you are making healthy choices on the basis of a healthy consciousness. It’s based on inner balance. When a person is connected to the deeper aspects of their own consciousness, which is always in perfect balance, then that balance reflects in the person’s thinking and desires and choices. Then the person chooses the thing that is nourishing, that the result is going to be nourishing for their system. That will actually look good to them: the apple is actually going to look more appetizing than the key-lime pie. Then you’re in a much more powerful position to keep your resolution.

Thoreau called this state of balance the “verdict of a soul in health.” And it makes sense to achieve that state of balance first, because then all your choices and actions throughout the day will spontaneously reflect that state of balance.

But how do you do that? How do you achieve a more balanced state of mind? That’s where the Transcendental Meditation technique comes in, because it offers the experience of pure consciousness, the most balanced state that we can experience. And hundreds of research studies have shown that when people have this experience twice a day on a regular basis, that many different aspects of their mind, body, emotions and even their environment starts to reflect that inner balance.

Another way to look at it is that by removing stress, your mind, body and behavior spontaneously becomes more balanced. It is stress, after all, that distorts our natural functioning, that makes it harder to hear our true desires. Think about how much easier it is to choose the apple in the morning when you’re fresh and rested. But wait until 5:00 p.m.when you’re tired and stressed—it’s a lot harder to say “no” to the chocolate cake then.

Teachers of TM hear the same thing from their students over and over, “After I started meditating, I suddenly didn’t have the taste for cigarettes, and I stopped smoking. I didn’t have to try—it was easy.” It’s as if our choices mirror who we are deep inside—if we’re feeling balanced, it becomes easy to create a healthier life for ourselves.

And that’s the best thing of all—you don’t have to struggle to make changes that will bring you better health or a more progressive life. Just close your eyes, dive inside, wash away the stress and fatigue—and find yourself spontaneously making better choices every day, not just in January.

About the Author

Linda Egenes writes about green and healthy living and is the author of six books, including The Ramayana: A New Retelling of Valmiki’s Ancient Epic—Complete and Comprehensive, co-authored with Kumuda Reddy, M.D.

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