New Year's Resolutions

Most of us choose the beginning of the new year to commit ourselves to areas of self-improvement. While some of us resolve to exercise more, become a savvier investor or finally redo the bathroom, others contemplate how they can successfully weed out some of life’s responsibilities in order to de-stress.

As our society evolves, we are increasingly caught between our Western impulse to accomplish and acquire more and the Eastern mantra that beckons us to slow down and quiet our desirous mind. The former energy is always focused on the future, the latter is steeped in the present. So where are we better off investing our time and energy? Challenging ourselves with new goals, be it changing careers or training for a marathon, helps us to fully realize our potential. But peeling back the clutter of our lives that can take the form of mindless Internet surfing or hollow social obligations equally shrouds us from our potential.

Before we can commit to the right resolution, we need to understand the difference between wanting to do more and needing to do less. Will learning a new instrument create more joy in our lives or will it become that obligation that weighs heavily on our sleep-deprived psyches? Only by taking inventory of what is and isn’t working in our lives will we be able to determine whether speeding up or slowing down offers us the greatest opportunity for rebalancing in our lives.