Expectations

Bright and light -- that's what I'd like my year to be and in order to illustrate the quest I chose the photograph on the right that depicts these feelings through a sprig of colours on growing plants and playful feline mischief. A New Year has begun but is it really new or simply a continuation of the previous one. If the latter, then a new year is simply a marker of time akin to a calendar or even a clock and therefore never an instrument of change in life and society. If so, then all this talk about a new year ushering in new hopes is simply a euphemism. Would bright and light be a toss-up?


In reality and in my life, there is unfinished business from last year and has to be pursued and then completed this year much in the same way as the usual business plan bound by actions and timelines. At my disposal, I have expectations of what will happen this year following patterns of previous years. For instance, I already know the number and destinations of overseas travel that I shall undertake in the first six months. Can I change the pattern of events, their chronology, their content, their purpose -- if only to prove that expectations could be turned into surprises or that they could be manipulated. That will be an exciting proposition but the possibility may depend on the desired effect and on other individuals.

Resolutions alight on the turf of the new year. If this isn’t a fad, why should they be raised only at the beginning of the year or am I unaware that this is as well a practice on Valentine’s Day or during Lent. And why not. Or why not evolve resolutions throughout the year. Do we need a timeline of twelve months or is it the containment within a finite twelve-month period that matters when committing to the attainment of specific goals.

Should I view this year as a natural consequence of last year’s, I don’t see how 2011 could be light BUT it may be bright and even brighter than before. A bright expectation. If I needed to tweak that expectation, I have many options BUT why should I want it not to be bright. For it to be light as I had wished, I have accepted that it is in the work-life balance where manipulation should take place. This is real change outside the character of continuation and can be made more specific with time-bound resolutions. But WHY do I want the year to be bright and light in my life. A pertinent question!

What do you want your life this year to be like?

Happy New Year, friends.