Dennis’ Blog Take-Over #3: Using Time Travel to Accomplish New Year’s Resolutions

I have been posting my husband’s blogs without any introductions from me, but I’m going to butt in here just to say hi because I miss you guys!  And to apologize that this one doesn’t flow very well because I’m too tired to edit it further (yes, I have been editing Dennis’ blogs, and you would thank me if you could see the messes he hands me! But I AM appreciative of his help and don’t complain…at least not much-haha!), plus he is sleeping, and I feel like I can’t make too many changes without his input or it will be my blog and not his.  Thank you for putting up with Dennis in my absence.  Despite the title, he has a serious one for you today, if you can believe it, so you’ll get to see another aspect of him before I kick him off my blog and return next week.  I can’t wait!  :D

XOXO,

V

P.S. If anyone is interested in a monthly feature from Dennis, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

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As I write this, 20 days have passed since the New Year.  When you read this, 23 or 24 days will have passed.  In a way, that makes you a time traveler.  You are able to view a past event as though it is happening right now.

Time is an interesting subject.  For this blog, we are going to consider that for most of us, time is really arbitrary.

Quick!  What is your age?

Did you know you have at least three different answers to that question?  They are:  chronological, mental and physical.  What I always find interesting is people mainly focus on chronological age, but that is the only one you can’t do anything about.  You were born when you were born, and each second takes you closer and closer to the other extreme.  You can change your physical age by exercise, or the lack of it, and by what you eat.  Mental age can be decreased by too much television, or just a general lack of mental stimulation (like reading something I write).

I find birthdays interesting, because as far as I can tell, I really get just one day older.  People have asked me, “What does it feel like to be 44?”  And honestly, I feel one day older.

Every 365 days the Earth goes around the sun.  On day 1 most people decide NOW is the time to take charge of my life. This is THE year I’m going to lose that extra weight!  I shall master squid juggling by this time next year!

At the dawn of a new year, it seems like it can be done this time.  You are more determined, and with a stronger will.  You tell your friends, you write it down, even post it on the internet.  You make your goals, but to accomplish them, you have to realize that it’s a step by step, moment to moment decision and action.

Think of it this way.

You are sitting on your couch.  You want to turn the TV on. Your hand travels from where it is, to the remote, hand picks up remote, finger or thumb presses the “on” button.  That was four basic actions to get a simple result, and we could have thrown in hand-eye coördination, tactile sense, and a host of other things needed to perform the above task.

But the most important thing is this.  There had to be a steady stream of consciousness to make it happen.  If you were distracted at any time during the event, like if a giant purple sock suddenly appeared in front of you and launched in an explanation of the importance of the human knee cap, then the cycle of action would be broken and the TV would not have been turned on.

What I’m saying is this.  You have got to make moment to moment decisions to get to your goals.  You have to think beyond the “here and now.”  You’ve got be a time traveler.  If you are in your car, feeling like, “Hey, I really need ice cream,” the “needing ice cream” is a here and now thing.  What you have got to do is think ahead of that.  Will the ice cream make you feel better or worse one half hour from now?  Or will you be able to say a week from now, “I have not had any fattening foods in a week, and I feel great.”

You can practice keeping a stream of consciousness during the day.  When doing dishes, try just doing them for a while, don’t think of anything else but the dishes maybe for just one plate. What you will find is your mind will wander off.

Making resolutions is easy.  But the mind does tend to wander.  The best thing you can do is know that you have to make those resolutions again, again and again in order to make them happen.