As we near the end of the year, I have been thinking about New Year Resolutions.

I was recently reading an old journal of mine and saw a list of tasks I wanted to accomplish before year end. Because the page wasn鈥檛 dated, I didn鈥檛 know what year the list was from.  The tasks ranged from 鈥済roceries/laundry鈥� to 鈥渞edesign shelving in guest room.鈥�  This list could have been from today, as many of the items on the list are my current 鈥渢o-dos.鈥�  It reiterated for me the cyclical nature of our lives, (wash, rinse, repeat) and how we can get mired in the minutiae, if we don鈥檛 stop to focus on the big picture.

Julia Cameron wrote in The Artist鈥檚 Way that the journey to the mountain top is a spiral.  She explained that, at any point you will see a similar view, but not the same view as you see on the spiral level below you.

Because progress has been made.

Even though the tasks, chores and goals seem like the same tasks, chores and goals as last year, WE are different WEs.

That list I initially mentioned turned out to be from 2017.  I only pieced it together because it said, 鈥渇ile 2017 taxes,鈥� but the other goals were very similar to what I have charted out for myself for 2020. 

So this year, rather than creating a checklist of tasks to accomplish, I am choosing to focus on less quantifiable and more qualitative resolutions.

*I am compassionate

*I am brave

*I am healthy

I confess, this shift was partly inspired by Karamo Brown of “Queer Eye”, but also by the sense that ticking boxes in the 鈥渄one鈥� column doesn鈥檛 necessarily lead me to a sense of pride or self-fulfillment.  If the goals I鈥檓 achieving aren鈥檛 directly resulting in a sense of peace and accomplishment, then perhaps they are not the most useful goals.

Karamo was helping a guest create a vision board and he shared, 鈥淭he only thing [the previous vision board] was doing every day was reminding you that you didn鈥檛 accomplish something.  The new vision board is going to include who you ARE.  When you work on BEING, all those other things are just going to work.鈥�

Yes, laundry has to get done, but will I actually feel like I鈥檝e grown as a person if my resolution of 鈥淚 do laundry every Sunday in 2020鈥� gets completed? Will it matter if I don鈥檛 do laundry every Sunday?  Personally, I don鈥檛 think so. Goals should help you move the needle from where you are to where you can be, with a sense of joy and purpose, not dread and duty.  Perhaps a stronger goal would be, 鈥淚 am calm and clear-headed, and my home is a reflection of my inner peace.鈥�

After setting resolutions that inspire you, then tasks can be created to help keep you on track, and in alignment with those resolutions, as we move farther up the spiral of experience.  This year, rather than creating a potential list of all the things we failed at or didn鈥檛 get done, let鈥檚 create goals that are fun to reach for and that will help us feel like better people at the end of the year.

I can鈥檛 wait to see who we become in 2020.

One of the questions we routinely ask applicants during an interview for a position with 优蜜视频 is: 鈥淗ow do you deal with stress?鈥�

If one were to ask me that, I would have several answers鈥攖ake deep breaths, go for a walk, or listen to music, for example鈥攂ut the answer that would describe the tactic that is first and most effective for me would be, 鈥淛ournal about the situation.鈥�

My good friend鈥檚 father is a very wise, very prominent businessman. One piece of advice I will always remember from him is, 鈥淚f you are mad, write a letter. Don鈥檛 mail it. Put it in your desk drawer and sleep on it. If you are still mad the next day, then you can mail it, but usually by then, you won鈥檛 want to.鈥�

Writing things down is a way to get situations and feelings out and to express them, to see them in a new light. The very act of writing is cathartic. In , Mary Gordon says:

Writing by hand is laborious, and that is why typewriters were invented. But I believe that the labor has virtue, because of its very physicality. For one thing it involves flesh, blood and the thingness of pen and paper, those anchors that remind us that, however thoroughly we lose ourselves in the vortex of our invention, we inhabit a corporeal world.

There are many ways to journal; travel-writing, write on a topic, describe yesterday, scribble thoughts of your future goals, aspirations, hopes and fears. One of the most effective ways for me to journal is . One example of this is the Morning Pages, made popular by Julia Cameron in her seminal book, The Artist鈥檚 Way (1992). In it, she says, 鈥淧ut simply, the morning pages are three pages of longhand writing, strictly steam-of-consciousness: 鈥極h, god, another morning. I have NOTHING to say. I need to wash the curtains. Did I get my laundry yesterday? Blah-blah-blah鈥︹�欌��

Cameron assures us, 鈥�There is no wrong way to do morning pages. These daily morning meanderings are not meant to be art. Or even writing. I stress that point to reassure the nonwriters鈥ages are meant to be, simply, the act of moving the hand across the page and writing down whatever comes to mind. Nothing is too petty, too silly, too stupid, or too weird to be included.鈥�

One key to getting the most out of Morning Pages is that they do not need to 鈥渟ound smart鈥�, and they are not meant to be read. By anyone. Including you. You shouldn鈥檛 read them yourself for at least two months, if ever. The point is to get the thoughts out, not to analyze them.

It doesn鈥檛 matter whether you are a writer or a carpenter, there is something useful in journaling. As Brenda Ueland said, 鈥渨riting is talking, thinking, on paper. And the more impulsive and immediate the writing the closer it is to the thinking, which it should be鈥�.It has shown me more and more what I am 鈥� what to discard in myself and what to respect and love鈥� (If You Want to Write, 1938).

So, as a method of meditation or stress-management or introspection, I invite you to write. As Julia says, 鈥淛ust write three pages, and stick them into an envelope. Or write three pages in a spiral notebook and don鈥檛 leaf back through. Just write three pages鈥nd write three more pages the next day.鈥� And please, let me know as it helps you create peace in your day.

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鈥淎 mind too active is no mind at all.鈥� 鈥� Theodore Roethke

Sometimes, there鈥檚 just too much to think about to see a clear picture of where to go next. Sometimes, too much context or history swims around in your mind, crowding the space for new ideas.

As Albert Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

At times like these, other methods of problem-solving can be useful.

One such method is using a mind map. This technique allows individuals to see relationships between concepts through pictures and diagrams, which are often thought to be more comprehensible than just words (Davies, 2010). The structure of a mind map begins with a topic or image in the center with major associated ideas connected to it, followed by subsequent ideas linked to the major ideas (Buzan & Buzan, 1993).

People have been using diagrams to visually represent thoughts in a map-like format for centuries. The actual term 鈥渕ind map鈥� was first made popular by pop psychologist Tony Buzan in 1974, with his idea of diagramming key words in a colorful, radiant, tree-like structure. Buzan said that “traditional” outlines force readers to scan left to right and top to bottom, but that readers actually tend to scan the entire page in a non-linear fashion (Buzan & Buzan, 1993).

Another method of 鈥渢hinking outside the box鈥� is brainstorming, which is when a group of people get together and share as many ideas as possible without prejudice to create a new idea. The information is examined for likely solutions or innovative ideas after the session, but not during, to promote freedom of thought and a safe place for sharing ideas. Advertising executive Alex Osborn is credited with developing this technique as an alternative to the conventional business meeting, as he was frustrated by his employees鈥� inability to develop creative ideas (Shirey, 2011). However, individuals can employ this tactic of brainstorming as well.

Osborn鈥檚 four rules of brainstorming are to:

1. Focus on quantity
2. Withhold criticism
3. Welcome unusual ideas
4. Combine and improve ideas

Free writing can also be a useful approach to get unstuck mentally. In brainstorming, ideas are listed out; whereas in free writing, you write full sentences and paragraphs. Freewriting entails writing continuously for a set period of time without regard for spelling, grammar or topic (Li, 2007).You don鈥檛 edit or censor your writing, you just write. While free writing, if you run out of things to say, you write about that until something else comes to mind. Often, this free-association will help unlock ideas to form new cohesive thoughts.

Proponents of freewriting include Dorothea Brande in her 1934 book Becoming a Writer, Peter Elbow in his 1975 book Writing Without Teachers and Julia Cameron through her book The Artist’s Way, first published in 1992.

So the next time you feel mentally stuck, try one of these methods to help generate new ideas and have fun with it!

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References

Buzan, T., & Buzan, B. (1993). The mind map book. Rajpal & Sons.

Davies, M. (2011). Concept mapping, mind mapping and argument mapping: what are the differences and do they matter?. Higher education, 62(3), 279-301.

Li, L. Y. (2007). Exploring the use of focused freewriting in developing academic writing. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 4(1), 5.

Shirey, M. R. (2011). Brainstorming for Breakthrough Thinking. Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(12), 497-500.

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Guru_Mindmap.jpg