Rachel's Viewfinder

One of my favorite books is “The Yankee Way to Simplify Your Life,” by Jay Heinrichs.  The better part of the book deals with finding your “calling,” and weeding out the parts of your life that hinder living that calling.  My favorite theme from the book goes something like this, “What would you do with a million dollars? Now, can you do that without a million dollars?” Heinrichs’ point is that if you’re living your calling, you’ll be doing it without a million dollars, or if you had the money, you’d do it anyway.

It’s January of a new year, when everybody looks at their life and realizes it’s time to make some improvements because the previous year lacked serious “progress.” Over the past few days, I’ve read the resolutions of friends on Facebook and Twitter and I wondered, “What are my resolutions?” Call me content, but I really didn’t see anything that particularly needed improvement.  Sure, there’s a few pounds to lose, and organizational prowess to achieve, but all at is per the usual.

So, I thought about calling and how I’ve been living it the past year.  Looking back over my journal provided me with some valuable information.  Namely, I haven’t written much in the last seven months.  And my blog is lucky if it gets an update once a month.  With that came Resolution 1): Write more.

Examining last year’s reading list proved equally disappointing, especially from the POV of a person who used to take 20 books out from the library and read them all in a week.  The other day, I read over a blog post talking about self-improvement and was challenged to read more of the classics.  At this point, the quest is simply this: Resolution 2): Read more.  The classics will come with time.

My final resolution came out of the creative explosion of the past few months. After hand-making Christmas presents and ornaments, I simply want this: Resolution 3): Create more.

Resolutions are the expression of a desired habit. And habits, as Heinrichs writes, are “…something you do regularly that you don’t think about; something that would make you feel uneasy if you didn’t do it.  Good habits simplify.  They boost you towards you goals, make your daily life decisions for you, set parts of your life on autopilot.  Bad habits complicate.”

Rather than resolve this year to change the innate and seemingly un-changeable parts of me (re: achieving organization prowess), I instead want to acquire some new habits to inch me further along in my calling.  As you contemplate your New Years Resolutions, I encourage you to do the same.  Try to make your Resolutions simple and a part of who you really want to be.  Because honestly, as Heinrichs notes, “Anything other than your calling is a distraction.”

(Note: If you’re interested in reading “The Yankee Way to Simplify Your Life,” you can find it on Amazon, here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0688163483/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_s1zdpb0YD85WW )