[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=” av-desktop-hide=” av-medium-hide=” av-small-hide=” av-mini-hide=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=”]
[/av_textblock]
[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’PEOPLE POWWOW ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
HAVE you written your 2018 New Year’s resolution? Or have you simply affirmed one in your mind?
For whatever it’s worth to you, dear readers, I have fulfilled my New Year’s resolution for this year, which is to keep both ends meet. I look forward to fulfilling it even more in 2018.
To illustrate for instance, for both thrift and health reasons, I prefer carinderias that serve fish and vegetables to “fine-dining” restaurants.
The effort has done wonders. Thank God, I have survived life-threatening diseases, namely emphysema, left ventricular dysfunction and atherosclerosis.
I am out to prove doctors wrong when they said that my emphysema is irreversible.
If I wear a Lacoste shirt today, it’s only because refusing a branded gift is an insult to the giver.
I intend to stay debt-free, having learned from a past experience when too much debt on my credit card rendered it worthless.
Like me, you must be wondering how all the money earned in many years have gone away. Couldn’t we have retained at least a tenth of it had we been prudent?
To remain sane, however, I don’t regret. I have yet to see a problem solved by regret.
We like to think of New Year’s resolution as another Christian tradition. But it is not. The tradition of affirming a New Year’s resolution had preceded the Christian era. It began in ancient Babylon over 3,000 years ago. Does such an origin matter?
If it matters, it’s only because now we know that there’s no religious angle to it. There’s really nothing spiritual that occurs at midnight of Dec. 31. The figurative “turning a new leaf” could be done on any date.
However, if a Christian decides to make a New Year’s resolution, what should it be?
While surfing the internet for this column, I came across a reproduction of the original 15th-century New Year’s resolution attributed to Roman Catholic Bishop John H. Vincent, which I am quoting verbatim below:
“I will this day try to live a simple, sincere and serene life, repelling promptly every thought of discontent, anxiety, discouragement, impurity and self-seeking, cultivating cheerfulness, magnanimity, charity and the habit of holy silence, exercising economy in expenditure, carefulness in conversation, diligence in appointed service, fidelity to every trust and a child-like trust in God.”
Take note that all the items in Bishop Vincent’s resolution make up the stuff contained in ours today. If there were ones not found in today’s version – say, the promise to stop smoking – it’s simply because they were irrelevant in his time when only the chimneys spewed smoke.
For a New Year’s resolution to succeed there must always be a strong motive. The resolution to lose weight, for instance, is always anchored on the individual’s strong desire to look attractive or to live healthier and longer.
To the reader who wants my two cents’ worth, my first advice is: Be realistic. Resolving to win the lotto – unless you earn much more than enough — is counter-productive, hence foolish, since the chance of hitting the right 6/55 combination is one in 28 million.
Second, be specific. Instead of saying, “I will no longer be lazy,” resolve to “maximize time for work and minimize time for TV viewing.”
Third, break down large goals into smaller ones. Instead of vowing to “lose weight,” you could do better “to abandon weight-gaining foods and to exercise every morning.”
Fourth, look for alternatives to bad habits. You’d be more successful in stopping smoking if you visit a non-smoking place – say, an air-conditioned mall.
And finally, do not wait for tomorrow what you can do for today./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
