By: Liz Queen
This year I’m focusing more on revelations than resolutions, and it’s working!
Hindsight’s typically sharper than foresight. So why not take advantage of our human tendency to look backwards, and learn from whatever that reveals about what worked and didn’t work for us (revelations)?
The alternative is to presume we have the supernatural skills to look forward to determine not only what we want (resolutions), but also how to plan for all the unknowns that will inevitably occur on our path from here to there (we can’t, and that’s why we often give up In discouragement when we try to fulfill those pesky, self-promising, prognosticating resolutions).
What’s already happened in the past though, is firmly there, for us to touch and caress and laugh at and lament and gasp and grasp and grow and give thanks for, and reflect on the revelations our past actions, inactions, and situations can bring if our new year celebrations turn to what we can learn when we revel in our revelations.
I respectfully disagree with cautions that you shouldn’t keep looking in the rear view mirror. Then why is it there? To see what’s gaining on you. To beware of what’s following you so it won’t overtake you. To get a gauge of your own progress. To stay abreast of what’s all around you.
You wouldn’t have a car without a way to look back for productive reasons, nor should you manage your life that way.
So at least glance backwards not for the purpose of staying there, but as a catalyst to trigger reflections and revelations that help you strengthen your resolve as you move forward.
I hit a pothole and I need to fix that damage so I can stay safe on my journey.
I ignored the detours and ended up somewhere lost where I didn’t want to be and wasn’t supposed to go.
I heeded the caution signs and it turns out I avoided an accident.
I crashed, but my life wasn’t totaled, so I walked away with only scars that now need to heal.
I quickly paused on yellow, but I should have waited more patiently for the red light so I could have stopped to check my route.
I arrived safely at the destination and now it’s time to keep moving on.
I cut in front of somebody I should have yielded to.
I picked up someone I should have left at the side of the road.
I left behind someone I thought was with me for the journey but was only good for a few miles.
I took a risk and sped ahead and now I need to be sure I know where this momentum is leading me.
I forgot to pull over for a while and just enjoy the scenery.
And then naturally, from these revelations, flowed my resolutions at the same time. I can’t predict what will happen but I know what already did.
I can’t change what happened, but I can use it as a firm foundation on which I can now stand to look out over was, what wasn’t, what still needs to be, what I won’t allow to be again, and what I want to be even more and in a better way.
This foundation of revelation becomes the rock for my resolutions.
I’m putting my foot on that rock of revelations. And resolving to keep it there.
That’s what Foot on the Rock means to me…today.
#KeepYourFootOnTheRock