I Believe in New Year's Resolutions

Making Those Resolutions Count

Joseph Speranzella
Joseph Speranzella, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jan 16, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
For most people the phrase " I Believe in Resolutions", is as meaningful as saying "I believe in Santa Claus". But the success of any resolution rests upon that very point:

Our Belief.

The yearly ritual of mulling though our faults and selecting one to correct is a good exercise in conscience. One must wonder, though, what happens to the conscience as it is yearly abandoned to more "achievable" goals. We all have them. Health, finance, relationships- I'm sure one of these is on your list. At times these lists are made to placate the thousandth time you've been asked, what's your resolution?" But for many it is an earnest quest for better.

I have been reading the book "The Magic of Believing" by Claude M. Bristol. It is an older book - copyrighted in 1948, my edition is from 1966. In it is nothing really new if you are at all familiar with the idea of Mind Stuff. That is how the author refers to the power to achieve that is activated by belief. In the book Mr. Bristol explains that it is one thing to believe, say, that the earth is round. It is a completely "other" thing to believe that your endeavors will succeed. That belief is not an academic knowledge but a feeling of knowing. It is feeling that the goal has already been reach, even though it is in the future. That requires true faith but it is attainable.

I remember a preacher once describing the religious conversion experience - It is knowing that you know that you know that you KNOW that God is with you. This "believing" activates a reality in the converts life. It redirects "the inner compass" and that changes everything. And that is what we look for in New Year's resolutions isn't it? Change. For most it is a desire for real life transforming change. Why? Because the New Year's celebration is for the optimist. Otherwise, what is the point?

If you want your New Year's resolution to be a success, you must change your thinking about it. Make it the focus of your attention, put a mental picture in your mind, and believe. Have faith. And something in God's cosmos will get underway, and move it towards the fulfillment of your resolution. You must also act upon it. Take the steps. Be confident. Think and breathe as if the desired goal is already yours, and -in time- it will be.

Pax et Bonum

Published by Joseph Speranzella

I am a member of the Secular Franciscan Order,a husband, father, and writer. I am also a former Spiritual Counselor for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I enjoy writing on things both secular a...  View profile

  • The Magic Of Believing
  • Our belief determines the outcome of our New Year's resolutions.
  • It is one thing to believe that the earth is round. It is a completely "other" thing to believe that your endeavors will succeed.
  • For most a New Year's resolution reflects a desire for real life transforming change. You CAN do it!
"The Magic Of Believing" by Claude M. Bristol, was written after Mr. Bristol studied the lives and writings of great men and women of history. He determined that their common denominator was their "belief" in what they were doing.

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