Appreciative New Year’s Resolutions

Gail A. Schneider, J.D., MAPP, brings to positive psychology an extensive background from the world of big business. After a 20 year career at JPMorgan Chase where she was an Executive Vice-President, she now works and writes on the issues of life transitions and the search for meaning and purpose in mid-life. Email Gail. Full bio.

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It’s that time of year again. If you are anything like me – Type A, and goal-oriented – your annual list of New Year’s resolutions is beginning to take shape. My usual approach to the process has been to look back on the year gone by and identify all the many things I wanted to accomplish and didn’t, a sobering exercise at best and one guaranteed to put the “Bah, Humbug” mind-set into your holiday celebrations! In prior years, I would construct my new resolutions on the shaky foundation of last year’s failures. I didn’t get to the gym enough last year… this next year, I’d typically resolve to go 5 days a week, maybe even 6. As a writer, I never did meet my goal of waking every morning and going straight to my computer for 3-4 uninterrupted hours of writing a day, so that one would be another candidate for top of the list. I think you get the picture. As you might expect, somewhere around mid to late January, my motivation and enthusiasm for my new set of resolutions fell flatter than a day-old flute of champagne.

This year, I am determined to change it up and see what happens when I add some positive psychology principles to the mix.

Appreciatively Ask Myself

My first step is to inquire appreciatively as to what went right for me in 2008. While the concept of appreciative inquiry developed by David Cooperider in the 1980’s is best known for its results in bringing about transformative changes in groups and institutions, the idea of focusing on what has worked rather than what has not can be equally powerful in promoting change in individuals.

For example, when I look back at the periods last year when I was most successful in maintaining a consistent pattern of exercise, I noticed that it was the several months right before the presidential election. I was riveted by the primary season and once the candidate slates were selected, they never failed to disappoint. Several days of the week I’d go to the gym and watch MSNBC and CNN simultaneously, switching between the 2 channels depending on the images on the screen and the crawl below. Before I knew it I had done 50 minutes on the elliptical machine without ever having looked at my watch. Now I know I can’t wait another four years before I go back to the gym, and even I have a limit for listening to pundits speculating about the Obama’s search for a new puppy, but I have learned that exercising while engaged in watching something that captures my attention makes the time fly by.

Building on Strengths, Not Weaknesses

Another step in the process is to build on strengths, not on weakness. It is no surprise that when I took the VIA questionnaire, self-regulation was lowest on my list. An unrealistic directive that I must exercise six-days-a-week is a recipe for failure for someone like me who is missing the “self-regulation” chip in her brain. I have other strengths like zest, wisdom, and love of learning and I can already envision numerous ways I can use these strengths to achieve my exercise and other goals. I found a yoga class I love (which allows me to connect with my inner wisdom), and going there twice a week has been a joy not a chore. I don’t need to resolve to go there; I want to go there, and that has made all the difference.

Recognizing and Being Grateful for My Wins

Finally I plan to add the practice of gratitude to the New Year’s resolution process. Robert Emmons’ new book thanks! is a comprehensive review of the power of gratitude and its ability to positively impact our psychological and physical well-being. Each of us may not have the self-regulation required to keep a nightly gratitude journal, but this time of year is a natural point of endings and beginnings, and so it is a perfect time for introspection and reflection on the many reasons we have to be grateful. It is through the lens of gratitude and on that far sturdier foundation that I will choose to look forward to 2009 and plan my future.

A Small Gift to You

In closing, I have a small gift for all the readers of Positive Psychology News Daily. It is one of my favorite poems. It is taped to the inside of a closet door in my home office. While I wish every reader a year of good health, happiness and prosperity, this is a gift for you when life disappoints, and you face challenges big and small or even those that blindside you and take your breath away. I have been there, it has comforted me, and I hope whenever you may need it, it will comfort you as well.

Rumi Meditating

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Reference:

Cooperrider, D. & Whitney, D. (2005). Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change. San Francisco: Berrett- Koehler Publishers.

Emmons, Robert A. (2007). Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Rumi, Jalal al-Din (13th century, 2004). The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition. Tr. Coleman Barks. HarperOne.

VIA Questionnaire retrieved from Authentic Happiness website. http://authentichappiness.org.

Images:
Exercise,
New Year’s Resolutions,
Rumi