New Year, New You?

I want to reflect on the notion of renewing oneself to start the new year.  It is a very prevalent lament that we can cleanse ourselves of the bad properties of 2011 while assuming ground-breaking, wholesome attributes for 2012. I like the driving force behind the idea, the energy, but I do not agree with the underlying philosophy.

There is an implication, in new year's renewal, that we are somehow inherently broken and this year, this upcoming year, we will finally fix it. To this I disagree. I believe we come equipped with all of the tools necessary to be 'complete and wholesome' and it does not require a particular date on a calendar to tell us to call upon these tools. We carry these tools with us unknowingly throughout the calendar year yet we wait for the first day of the next year to implement them - I question the wisdom of this conventional way of thinking.

It would seem to me that any morning, on any given day, we can 'cleanse' so to speak: quit smoking, lose weight, stop cussing at your animals, terminating the inclination to lie about yourself habitually, and the list goes on. Let us count the ways in which we are broken but do nothing to fix them until one day, the very first day, of the following year.

Instead I propose that we regard every day life with hope, the hope that we can change ourselves, be the person we want to be, be better for others, now. We do not have to wait for the tide to abate, or the influx of opposition to die down, or for the apple, peach, or giant balloons to drop. Do that if you want, but know that you can rise from bed on any given day and be the person you have always wanted to be. You are that person now, masquerading as something broken - of which you are not.

So the choice is yours. Enjoy the new year's celebration for what it is, but know that every day is a new year's day, and you can have that alloy resolve to change every day if the need is there. Have fun tonight and bask in the abundance of celebration, I know I will be, and it will be a blast! But I will have that much more fun in knowing that I am not in need of repair, or that I only have one day afforded to me to fix it all. 

Happy new year to all of you who read this! The time is always now to be who you want to be, because you are already there.