It is upon us.  A New Year.  By the way, Happy New Year to my fellow Bloggers, Writers and Poets!  On that note, my mind is wondering (which it always is), where the idea or term “New Years Resolution” stems from.

What is a New Year without a few “resolutions” or what I call “wishes”.  To me, a “New Years Wish” is the same as creating a mental wish before blowing out your birthday candles. A wish is something you would like or something you would like to work toward.

I do believe when you speak of your wants, needs and “wishes”, they do become more of a reality as you are speaking it out into the Universe.  For example, when you say, “I’m  happy”, your mind really believes it.  The same is for being “sad, dumb or depressed”.  The more you say whatever it is, your mind becomes that particular belief.  This has been discussed in deepness by many Spiritual Authors (i.e. Don Miguel Ruiz) and Scientist are beginning to catch on to this theory.  I mean, everything around us is living, even the air.  So, when you say something whether it is positive or negative, there is a high chance that it shall come to life.

With that being said, I shall speak (in this case write, but speaking shall occur) my 2019 New Years Wishes NOT “resolutions”.  Not resolutions?  Why is that?  Well, thanks for asking. I believe the word “resolution(s)” is a silly word to use when attempting to grow positively into a new year.  Where did that word even come from?  Why do we even associate that word with something that is supposed to be positive?  Because I am who I am, I began pondering and questioning why we say “New Years Resolutions”, when in reality, the word “resolution” is a short and factual word.  It means to make a definite decision to complete something or do something with no wiggle worm.  To me, it is more of a negative word because when we say “resolution”, it means we are attempting to solve a “problem” or “dispute” something.

Hmmm….that’s NOT what my New Year’s Wishes are made of.  My wishes come from my heart and soul.  I make wishes not because there is a problem or dispute, but because I either want to grow spiritually, mentally or physically.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it states a “New Years Resolution is a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year”

There it is, it is to change something “bad”.  Yes, we are attempting to change “something”, but because I live a positive life, I don’t care much for the negative aspect or definition of using this word.

I dug deeper because that’s what I do when I’m questioning something.  When you think about it, humanity began on a positive note.  Somewhere on our timeline, humanity moved from positive to “bad”, so this idea of a New Year’s “Resolution” came from some dark root.  But, my question is where?

According to History.com:

• 4,000 years ago, Ancient Babylonians were the first to make “New Year’s Resolutions” in honor of the new year.   Their “resolutions” were actually “promises” (which is a positive idea) to their Gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed.
• In ancient Rome, Julius Caesar messed with the months and established “January 1st” at the beginning of the “new year” around 46B.C.  This was a special day for the Romans as they saw it as looking back into the previous year and moving forward to the future.  They also made “promises” and offered sacrifices to their deity in order to have a good new year.  (another positive idea)
• In 1790, early Christians made a tradition on January 1st for thinking about one’s past “mistakes” and how to be “better in the future”.  (Okay, here we go.  This is the beginning of the negative thoughts! They (Christians) started the idea of looking at one’s downfalls, their wrongs and mistakes)
• “New Year’s resolutions today are a mostly secular practice. Instead of making promises to the gods, most people make resolutions only to themselves, and focus purely on self-improvement (which may explain why such resolutions seem so hard to follow through on). According to recent research, while as many as 45 percent of Americans say they usually make New Year’s resolutions, only 8 percent are successful in achieving their goals.”

And there we have it! The term/word/thought, “resolution” was born around 1790.  I am rejecting this negative connotation because I can!  I fathom negative thoughts because I know that negativity is like a virus and if I can help it, I will stray from that virus.

My New Years Wishes are simple.  I always try to stick to three, it is a number that is simply to reach.

1.  To become more environmentally conscious in all areas of my life
2. To become healthier.  To me that means eating food that will not only benefit me, but also my children, my husband and the environment.  It also means becoming more physically active, so I can keep my heart and blood flowing.
3. To write more.  With my busy life, I lack on my writing hobby.  When I do write, I honestly feel more connected to who I really am.  It empowers me.  It is something that I cannot explain.

Cheers to a New and positive New Year!

-Cami*Star 2019