RESOLUTIONS for 2022, Part 1
On January 1, 2021, I posted one of my first TGIF on the Boulevard articles. I was asking what you thought was in store for us in 2021: getting used to a New Normal; finding the motivation to make the necessary changes to be healthy; and getting to the little jobs around the house that had been put on hold in a busy life.
I mentioned James Clear’s book called Atomic Habits, which was a wake-up call for me. It can be found in the North Van City Library and the District Libraries. I listened to the CD’s at home and on hikes in Lynn Headwaters and I looked at his website: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits/.
The homepage menu shows:
- Atomic Habits, the book, but it’s also in eBook and eAudiobook format, at a library,
- Articles: e.g., Creativity, Focus, Productivity, Decision Making, Motivation, etc.,
- Self-improvement tips,
- The Habits Guide: How to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones,
- A sign-up for his 3-2-1 Newsletter, which comes out every Thursday,
- Events, which are mostly virtual talks, until 2022, and
- A free email course called 30 Days to Better Habits which guides you, step-by-step, to habit-building; gives you the tools and strategies to take action, including a 20-page PDF workbook; and presents a framework that works for any habit.
I signed up for his Newsletter, but only read them occasionally.
I’d like to suggest that you take a look at the website, if you can’t get the book or a recording of it. It may help you to decide practical and attainable resolutions for 2022. James Clear promotes making small changes to everyday life that will make a big difference, if you do them regularly, toward a bigger goal. As he puts it, a 1% change every day leads to a 37% change at the end of 365 days — like compounding interest, daily.
I didn’t make any momentous resolutions for 2021, but I listened to the recording quite a few times, and the repetition helped me to remember some of his suggestions. It reminded me of the Chinese saying: ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’, first found in the Tao Te Ching, which is a classical Chinese Taoist text, written between the 4th and 6th century BC. So this idea of taking small steps toward a distant goal is ancient!
My life in 2021 became terribly busy, as I bought a ‘second-hand’ greenhouse and devoted a lot of time to rearranging my backyard to accommodate it — successfully, I might add. And later in the year, I learned about another book called The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, originally published in 1992 and again in 2002 and 2016. I’ve been reading it and following a 12-week (12 chapters) program of ‘spiritual exercises’ that Julia created and developed over many years. It’s about self-improvement and do-it-yourself creative recovery.
Tune in next week for more about The Artist’s Way.
Fiona