This New Year 2021 is an opportunity for us to either open new doors and start from scratch. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? In order to accomplish this, a good idea is to set ourselves goals which are commonly known as “resolutions”. But where does this idea or practice come from?
The famous tradition titled “New Year’s Resolutions” originated thousands of years ago with the ancient Babylonians, whose year began in mid-March right when crops were planted. During their popular religious festival known as Akitu, they made promises to the gods in order to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed. These promises are thought to be the antecedents of what we call New Year’s resolutions nowadays.
We as humans tend to naturally promise ourselves personal goals. However, even though the desire of wanting to accomplish something is stored somewhere in our minds, we sometimes are not exactly sure about what is that we want to achieve, in what ways should we change, or what part of ourselves we should reinforce.
Like the ancient Babylonians, we should begin at least with prioritizing paying off all debts to others and returning things we borrowed at some point. With these two pending dues out of the way, perhaps we’ll feel lighter and be more inclined to take on other projects, like eating healthier or reading more. Even a minor action, like buying a new plant, could have a strong, positive effect over us; we can become more aware of our surroundings, more present in the day to day and ultimately, more at peace in the moment.
“Approach the New Year with resolve to find the opportunities
hidden in each new day.” - Michael Josephson
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