George Bailey: I know what I’m gonna do tomorrow, and the next day, and the next year, and the year after that.
– It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Its more than a week into the new year. I wonder how many resolutions have resolved into oblivion and how many more are tottering on the edge. I myself have never indulged in resolutions. They always seemed like a fad. A new year resolution sounds like some short term fix and life doesn’t come by that easy. Why would anyone hang onto a new year resolution once the year becomes old?
However, I am a big fan of goals and having objectives in life. I prefer a more holistic approach, one where we take into consideration our whole being. It’s important to have a road map for your life, one that doesn’t change with years or seasons. That calls for long term plans and each year becomes a sort of milestone to evaluate progress and make changes. This post isn’t about goal settings and planning. I could tackle that in a different post. This post is about the different areas you need to consider when making your plans.
These areas are similar to wellness dimensions. Some say there are six and some nine. I have listed seven as I think these are the most concrete. Incidentally I also listed them in the order of importance, according to me.
- Spiritual
This to me is the most important area. We are, at our core, spirits in humanly form. Death is but the inability of the body to carry on. It’s the body that dies, but the spirit will live on. I guess to a lot of people, this area of their lives will be the least important. The materialistic world and the abstractness of spirituality, compound matters. I still suggest a reconsideration.
- Physical
The area that gets the most attention. Don’t make this all about your weight. It’s about healthy living. You need to look into what you eat and drink, the quantity and quality of your sleep and your “sweat” quotient.
- Intellectual
A math professor once said, the happiest people in life are those who did well in mathematics. He then stressed, happiest and not necessarily the richest. His reasoning; excellence at solving math problems enabled one to later solve problems in life. My mother hated math. I can also tell you she isn’t a very good problem solver. Her approach to life’s problem is an emotional one and that simply doesn’t work. No matter how good a soul you are, you have got to use that grey matter between your shoulders to help you get through life. (Don’t get too down if you were bad at math)
- Emotional
Understanding, accepting and managing the tunes and turmoil’s of the heart. In my opinion the most complex area to accomplish anything, because dealing with emotions needs intelligence. But the minute intelligence enters the picture, we could lose the emotion. You don’t want too much IQ and be left with no EQ.
- Social
It’s a holistic approach, remember? Man is a social animal; they teach that at school. The circle starts with immediate family. Then grows wider and wider to include relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues, strangers and so on.
- Occupational
The attitude counts. Your work is an extension of yourself. Your job is going to take up a lot of your time. It becomes your duty to ensure that all those hours at your desk were worthwhile and fulfilling.
- Financial
Personally, my weakest area. Money isn’t real. But it has become very important. Too much or too less of it, can both lead to evils. A financial planner will always tell you, begin with a goal in mind and then work towards it. Again you have that long term planning in the picture.
I haven’t really gone into details of how to evaluate and what goals you can set in these areas. I guess that will require a separate post on each of these areas. However, for now, this will serve as a primer to make one aware of the much larger picture about oneself. Give it some thought. Sticking to frilly new year resolutions isn’t going to cut it, because, its’ a wonderful life and there is going to be a next year and…
It’s not boring or preachy at all! 🙂 I actually agree with how new year resolutions are sometimes a fad and a holistic approach is a lot more practical and a lot more likely to work.
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Thanks for the assurances.
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Concise style and clarity in thinking !
For me, this year the word ‘FOCUS’ keeps coming into my mind. A new year resolution with a mind of its own 😉
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Thanks.
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Very nice post indeed, and one that I agree with a lot. I think these are very key areas of our life that we all need to evaluate and work on. I also agree that people don’t seem to consider spirituality to be of great importance in the materialistic world. I personally don’t have a religion, but I do consider myself to be ‘spiritual’ or at least spend a few minutes each day in tune with my spirituality. I wrote a comedic blog piece on the subject of resolutions that you may be interested in reading; https://clskellern.wordpress.com/2016/01/04/a-nervous-girls-guide-to-my-lovehate-relationship-with-ny-resolutions/
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Good stuff. Funny that pescatarian myself. Thanks for reading.
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I don’t think this is dry or boring. Interestingly, have you ever studied DeMartini? The guy himself is a bit of a wackjob, but the learning is solid, so I still highly recommend his workshops. He uses a similar life breakdown (as do many others in the holistic/spiritual field) to figure out your what matters most to you and how that relates to how your life is playing out.
Re money – a very wise teacher told me that money is a means of asserting or agreeing upon value. So watch where you don’t give yourself enough value or credit, as that will almost always be linked to money. Solar-plexus stuff. 🙂
This was my resolutions post. http://straightwoo.com/2016/01/03/new-years-resolutions-2016/
Lots of love xxx
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Will look up Demartini. But I had to first read what a Shamanic Practitioner is. I was completely unawares. New and interesting stuff to me. Thanks for stopping by and reading.
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No problem! Yes, haha, Shamanism is not always so well known. My Shaman does use part of DeMartini’s method in her work, however, recognising that for normal professional folks some Shamanic stuff is a bit scary. Pleasure to drop into your world. If you ever want to learn more about Shamanism, feel free to check out the blog. 🙂 Take care!
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A road map that doesn’t change with seasons.. DEFINITELY! I like this 🙂
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I like breaking my resolutions down into similar categories. Some years I lean more heavily on one category or another, but having at least one thing for each helps me feel like I’m moving forward in all areas.
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