There’s a beautiful song by my favorite indie artist Val Emmich, which begins with the words, “I made a new years resolution, knowing I would break it, knowing that it wouldn’t stick.” And while the song is a fabulous piece of writing in it’s own right, this line has always kept my attention.
We can all get so motivated about making changes in our lives. It’s incredibly exciting to reinvent our self somehow, and keep that fresh and new feeling about life. Weather it be quitting smoking, getting a new job/career, finding a new partner, eating healthier, practicing better physical and spiritual health, learning a new hobby, or what have you.
The truth is however, that an estimated 8% of people actually follow through with new years resolutions, and that most people only make it through about two weeks on average with their new changes. So why is this? Why do we see so few people with the needed will power that it takes to rise above their old habits, or begin something entirely new to them? Is it that we are generally weak willed, or that we are creatures of habit for better or worse? Are we somehow unable to control what we really want in this life?
While the statistics may paint this as true, I am here to say that it is truly false! The human being, in its true essence, both physically and spiritually, is anything but weak willed, weak minded, unmotivated, lazy, and unable to make amazing changes. We are in fact, one of the most potentially powerful forms of being in this universe, and those who heave heard me speak on spiritual matters know from where I draw this wisdom. But lets press pause on our hidden unlimited potential for a second though, and go back to the seemingly lacking human condition.
So, why is it that the day-to-day obstacles like loosing weight, quitting smoking, and upgrading our overall life styles, can still seem to be our biggest opponents? For example, it may seem trivial to a non-smoker, but when a heavy smoker goes about eliminating the need for nicotine in their system, it is a tremendous undertaking. Psychologically, chemically, and socially, most of our habits have us by the neck, and we hardly even realize the grip of them. I’m going to stick with the example of smoking here, because it’s a neutral example that we can all understand. However, apply the following to whatever you see fit in your own life.
It is accurately estimated that 90% of all people who quit smoking, quite cold turkey. So what does this really tell us? And what does this mean when we look at how positive change in our lives can actually occur? The fact that 90% of ex-smokers quite cold turkey means that a deliberate internal decision was made, stemming from the will of the individuals psyche. They didn’t make a decision to take a pill, to put on a patch, to smoke light cigarettes, or to just smoke one a day. No, they decided to quit! And then they decided to power up that amazingly authoritative human tool we call the will.
To really make any lasting meaning of this article for you, I will need you to follow me on a quick tangent here. I need you to remember that there are in fact five aspects that compose the “self” in this life. Each of them blend and interact to make you who you are, while allowing you to experience and explore the nature of the universe within any physical life. Consider the following, and ask your self how each of these five personal facets make you, you?
- Your Desire: We are, at our core, a reflection of our deepest desires.
- Your Intellect/Reasoning: Our logical/rational mind applies concepts, making them real, solidifying reality.
- Your Memory: Allowing life to play out in a sequence of events, giving us an identity through recollections.
- Your Will: The commanding tool of action, the force of all desires.
- Your Imagination: The tool of creation, expansion, and evolution.
While each of these five holds its own power within you, and can be identified and harnessed into an unbelievably life altering device, we need to look specifically at the Will.
Understanding the spiritual power of your Will, and then using it to overpower any and all illusionary needs of your human body, is what has separated those who succeed, from those who fail, those who lead, and those who follow, those who master their lives, and those who stumble through them. Yes there’s a lot more to this than we can discuss here in a short column, but I assure you, if you are truly looking to make positive, permanent, changes in your life, turn to your Will, and utilize it as the spiritual gift it is.
This entire month, you will read amazing words from all of our authors, as there is no doubt a surplus of positive change on this planet worthy of praise. But I wanted to begin here, at the individual level, and help bring some true meaning to you today. Remember that the true root of change in this world, be it positive or negative, began with an individual, perhaps you, making a decision, to exercise the true power of their Will.
Weather we look at the global effects of Mahatma Gandhi, or those of Adolf Hitler, we see the same inner Will being utilized at such an intense level, that it altered the lives of many thousands. Take this deeper into consideration when reflecting on what the Will can really do to create positive change in your life. And remain clear, that we are not overcoming the self here, we are simply realizing what the self is actually composed of, and then utilizing its facets to mold it into what we truly desire.
-Joseph Kenneth
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