10 minute read
PGMAG Jan 2022 # Issue 32
NEW YEAR, A NEW & A BETTER ME ...magnificent dreams; fresh starts
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— BY INDERJIT SINGH
On New Year’s Day, when the singing, fireworks and champagne toasts are over, many of us become more serious about life. We take stock and plan new courses of action to better our lives. This is best seen in one of the most popular customs and the key to the meaning of New Year - making resolutions.
“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.” said Lord Buddha, known as being a "teacher of the gods and humans", superior to both the gods and humans in the sense of having attained nirvana or spiritual enlightenment.
Everyone should be born again on the first day of January to start with a fresh page. I personally have determined to go all the way on the course of my resolutions and have already started in that direction, in all earnestness. I have opened a new book. Its pages are blank. The book is called “An Occasion to Evolve” and its first chapter is selfassessment leading to selfawareness. I am going to put words on them myself for last year’s words belong to the last year’s language and this year’s words await another choice. I strongly believe that the dreams of the future are better than the history of the past. You can’t go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending. Remember when you have no interest in looking back, you’re on the right way.
I have also made my choice to embark on the path of being a better me in more than one way, in fact in many ways. Yes, it is all about choices that we make, our individual choice, a new chapter, a new verse or just the same old story? Ultimately since we write it ourselves, so the theme ought to be ours.
What is your choice? What about your indulgence and engagement in writing with me as a co-author, putting together the thoughts and demystifying the script that lies in my and your head to unfold? For me, the secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming thoughts into small manageable and actionable tasks and then starting on the first task. Never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction. Every moment is a fresh beginning. Life is not about expecting, hoping and wishing. It is about doing, being and becoming.
Almost every country in the world observes a significant national holiday in honor of an important patriotic event such as, the winning of the country's independence, commemorating the day of liberation, a revolution or a new constitution. For USA the Independence Day July 4th; for France the French Revolution Day July the14th; for Germany the German Unity Day October the 3rd; for Malaysia Hari Merdeka on August 31, Malaysia's independence from British colonial rule and the formation of Malaysia itself, and so on.
New Year’s however, has a deeper significance. What is it?
365 NEW DAYS; INFINITE NEW OPPORTUNITIES
The meaning of most holidays is clear: Valentine’s Day celebrates romance; Thanksgiving, blessings & productivity; Christmas, good will towards all; but New Year, is a different ball game! Each new year offers an exciting opportunity for a fresh start and new beginnings, which is probably why we all look forward to New Year’s Eve so much. No matter what your goals are for the coming year are or how many new year’s resolutions you plan on making for 2022, ringing in the start of a new year is a moment to acknowledge. One, to celebrate all of your experiences from 2021; and two, to welcome the new year ahead.
The meaning of New Year, the world’s most celebrated holiday is associated with the celebration of Self - selfawareness, self-assessment, and self-actualization; new aspirations and new orientations. On this day, many people take stock of the last year’s achievements and failures and look forward to the promise of a new year, of a new beginning. This celebration and reflection are not merely the result of an accident, the turning of the leaf of the calendar. On an average each American makes 1.8 New Year's resolutions. When the rest of the world is taken into account, the number of people making resolutions skyrockets to hundreds of millions. From New York to UK, Paris to Sydney, New Zealand to Africa, interesting similarities arise as shown in two very common resolutions: people wanting to be more attractive by losing weight, and to be healthier by exercising more and smoking less. They want to do things better, become better people. New Year's Day is the most active-minded holiday because it is the one where people evaluate their lives and plan and resolve to take action. One dramatic example of taking resolutions seriously is the old European custom of: "What one does on this day one will do for the rest of the year." What unites this custom and the more common type of resolutions is that on the first day of the year people take their values more seriously. If people were to apply the value-achievement meaning of New Year's Day explicitly and consistently 365 days each year, they would be more happier and content. Values are not only physical and external. They also can be psychological. Many New Year's resolutions reveal that people want to better themselves by improving psychologically. Every resolution you make on this day implies that you are in control of yourself, that you are not a victim fated by circumstances, controlled by stars, owned by luck, but that you are an individual who can make choices to change your life.
But what is the purpose of making such goals and resolutions? Why bother? Making New Year's resolutions and doing so even after failing last year's expectations, reinforces that people want to be happy. On New Year's Day many people accept, often more implicitly than explicitly, that happiness comes from the achievement of values. Afterall, it is happiness that is the motivation and purpose of one's life. It is New Year's, more than any other day, that makes the attainment of happiness more real and possible. This is the meaning of New Year's Day and explains why it is so psychologically important and significant to people throughout the world.
PROMISE YOURSELF; RENEW YOUR VALUES IN NEW YEAR
I wish to share the following thoughts for you to perhaps, adopt & follow as your New Year’s resolutions. For me these words have served as a reminder every day of my life; that my happiness and my optimism does not depend on the external circumstances but my own internal decisions. Promise yourself, to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Promise yourself, to talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. Promise yourself, to make all your friends feel like that there is something in them. Promise yourself, to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. Promise yourself, to think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best. Promise yourself, to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. Promise yourself to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Promise yourself, to wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. Promise yourself, to give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. Promise yourself, to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and to0
happy to permit the presence of trouble. Promise yourself, to think well of yourself and this fact to the world not in loud words but great deeds. Promise yourself, to live in faith that the world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.
MY TAKE
Embrace self-love and selfacceptance. Stop negative selftalk & silence your inner critic. Start a daily journal or blog to improve your mental health. Learn to be more optimistic & think more positively.
Resolve to complain less & appreciate life more. Practice daily gratitude. Start spending more time alone. Disconnect from social media to the extent possible. Stop procrastinating. Learn to say no and not feel bad.
This is the year! I will be stronger, braver, kinder, unstoppable. This year I will be a game changer. I shall stand strong, believe in myself, chase all my dreams. Time is precious. I shall, if at all, waste it wisely.
I choose one word to inspire me this year, and let that be “Kindness”.
At the end of 2022, the only questions I will ask myself and you are:
Did we live enough? Did we love enough? Did we laugh enough? Did we make a difference?
Our intentions and our resolutions notwithstanding; my conviction is “Those who leave everything in God’s Hand, will eventually see Gods hand in everything”.
Wishing you Merry Christmas & a very Happy New Year 2022. God be with you!
KNOW THE AUTHOR
Inderjit has recently been honored with Doctor of Philosophy by a renowned Brazilian Institution of higher education for his contribution in International Diplomacy. He is an Aviation Consultant with the UN. He has served in senior level diplomatic positions in several countries of Asia, South-East Asia, Middle-East, Africa and South America. He was the CEO of IGI Airport – the 16th busiest in the world. He is an MBA, followed by advanced management courses at “Henley-the Management College”, Oxford shire, UK and the University of California, Berkeley, USA. He can be reached at inderjit.singh@ aviationanalyst.net
