New Year’s Hopes

I can’t remember the last time I made a New Year’s resolution.

I don’t have any intention of making one this year.

But I will have hopes for the year ahead.

I’ll also be thinking about the implications of what I’m hoping for.

What I hope for from what I hope for will be in my thoughts, as well as the details of how my hopes becoming reality might be noticeable.

The first thing that comes to mind when I’m thinking about what I hope for is often conditional on factors which I have little direct influence over.

For example, the sorts of things I usually find myself hoping for around New Year generally include world peace, social justice and global climate improvement.

Realistically, I am only capable of making a small contribution to such things happening, so I’ll also be relying on the contributions of others. This means that when I examine my hopes a little deeper, I find myself hoping to see signs of others doing the things which would indicate our efforts are aligned.

I hope to continue maintaining my resolve even at times when those signs are obscured amongst the noise of signs to the contrary.

I hope to find the patience, grace and humility to manage that.

As well as being very clear on what I hope to see myself being and doing no matter what, it’ll help if I’m also very clear on what I’m looking out for from others, so that I can make the best use of any favourable situation should it occur.

From a certain point of view, a degree of optimism and faith might be required. However, I think it’s actually more accurate to regard pragmatism as being the active ingredient.

After all, everyone inevitably carries out an endless roster of consistent and inconsistent actions. That’s simply human nature.

The same thing happens in the natural world. This is the phenomenon whereby anomalies and mutations ensure the possibility of successful evolution and adaptation.

No matter what we hope to notice anyone do (including ourselves), no matter how unlikely or out of character it may seem, it’s highly likely that just such a thing will happen to some extent at some point. When it inevitably does, it could be easily overlooked, whilst noticing it could make a difference. So the key here is keeping an eye out for the noticeable, hoped for difference.

The difference that makes a difference.

I was doing a jigsaw puzzle the other day, and it occurred to me that a specific hope for the future can be regarded like a completed jigsaw.

Having a picture of the completed puzzle as a reference makes the task of solving the puzzle a lot easier.

With that picture in mind, any piece we pick up can be recognised and put in place.

I’ll be heading into 2020 with a picture of the future I’d like to experience forming in my mind. Then as the year goes on, I’ll hope to continue recognising the pieces that fit to stay on track.

…Have I just described a resolution?! Perhaps. Probably down to semantics. I prefer to think of it as hope anyway. Hope in an active, rather than passive sense.

Anyway, whoever you are, whatever your hopes, resolutions or intentions might be, I wish you a Happy New Year!