My Resolutions for the New Year

Letter from New Delhi

‘Resolution is struggle. Resolution is ego’


By Swami Anand Kul Bhushan

What a binge! Eating, drinking, laughing, dancing and celebrating. You had a super party on Christmas eve and Christmas day and before you recovered, you had another bumper splurge on the eve of New Year and yet another on the first day of 2019.

Now that you are sober with a light head and a guilt complex, you start thinking about what you want to do in this brand new 2019. Let’s make some New Year’s Resolutions.

Look at me! Too much fat on my body. Need to eat less. Yes, start dieting. It’s not enough, need to exercise regularly to melt the fat and become more active. Need to regulate my sleeping style; sleeping too much and sometimes too little. Must sleep at a fixed time, get enough sleep and get up early.

The real problem is drinking and/or smoking too much. Both are dangerous, indeed fatal, habits and so must to cut down on both first and then totally stop indulging in these lethal habits.

Been neglecting my family that showers so much love on me. Must spend more time at home with my family. Also, haven’t called my dear friends and need to re-connect with them.

Then there’s my smartphone; got addicted to it for gossiping, social media and selfies. My smartphone has made me anti-social; should cut down on using this device asap. Online shopping has made me an impulsive buyer of things not really needed. Looking at bargains in showrooms makes me open my purse and this should stop for my financial health.

This reminds me of financial freedom which means saving for the long-term security. About time to start saving, indeed investing for the future.

Have neglected to stimulate my mind; read more books, watch less TV, play lees video games and stop surfing the web aimlessly. Why not learn a new language in 2019? Learn a new skill or start a new hobby?

Most of all, need to combat my stress and worrying. Start yoga for physical and mental fitness or meditation for bliss.

Why not get involved in helping the needy by working for a charity? Can reduce the suffering of the less fortunate with my contribution as every little gesture helps.

So many resolutions to make and carry them out!

Someone asked the enlightened master Osho: “If one were to make only one new year’s resolution, what would you suggest?”

Osho replied, “This and only this can be the new year’s resolution: I resolve never to make any resolutions because all resolutions are restrictions for the future. All resolutions are imprisonments. You decide today for tomorrow? You have destroyed tomorrow.

“Allow the tomorrow to have its own being. Let it come in its own way! Let it bring its own gifts. Resolution means you will allow only this and you will not allow that. Resolution means you would like the sun to rise in the west and not in the east. If it rises in the east, you will not open your windows; you will keep your windows open to the west.

“What is resolution? Resolution is struggle. Resolution is ego. Resolution is saying, “I cannot live spontaneously.” And if you cannot live spontaneously, you don’t live at all — you only pretend.

“So let only one resolution be there: I will never make any resolutions. Drop all resolutions! Let life be a natural spontaneity. The only golden rule is that there are no golden rules.” From ‘Walk Without Feet, Fly Without Wings and Think Without Mind’.


Kul Bhushan worked as a newspaper Editor in Nairobi for over three decades and now lives in New Delhi


* Published in print edition on 28 December 2018

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