rebirth

This time of year comes around and everyone gets the urge to make new years resolutions. Why do we do this? What compels us each year to make goals that we know we most likely won't keep? They're goals that are supposed to make us better in some way; make us thinner, stronger, quit smoking, eat better, to be better people all around. But why do we wait until the new year to do it? What is it about this time of year?

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” That's a quote from, of all people, Oprah. What does New Years mean to you? Is it a chance to get it right, or is it a new beginning? I know that people like to see the new year as a signal for change. Out with the old and in with the new. "An optimist will stay up until midnight to see the new year come in. A pessimist will stay up to make sure the old year leaves."

Here is a different way of thinking about it: "We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." So there are some arguments. But what about the notion of rebirth, the idea that we can become new again? There is talk of rebirth in religion. All men should be reborn in the spirit of Christ. That means our eyes are open to suggestion from the spirit and we are more willing to do what is right and what is needed. At least that's how I perceived it. But what about a rebirth in general? "All souls must undergo transmigration and the souls of men revolve like a stone which is thrown from a sling, so many turns before the final release... Only those who have not completed their perfection must suffer the wheel of "rebirth" by being reborn into another human body.” Does that mean literally born into another body? Not necessarily. It could depending on your religious views but I'm going to use it this way; being born into another human body just means that your rebirth hasn't really occurred. You're still the same, a human. You haven't changed into an enlightened being yet. We go around on our wheels and we keep doing the same things. We make the same mistakes, the same choices, we do the same things that we believe are the safe choices. So every year we make resolutions and goals at the new year. Sometimes we are successful but most times we aren't for whatever reason.

"It quite often happens that the old man is subject to the delusion of a great moral renewal and "rebirth", and from this experience he passes judgments on the work and course of his life, as if he had only now become clear-sighted; and yet the inspiration behind this feeling of well-being and these confident judgements is not wisdom, but weariness .”

How true that is. We set goals on how tired we are of something. I'm tired of being fat, I'm tired of being sick all the time, I'm tired of my stressful job. What if we set goals to gain more of the things we love? Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits.

So let's put this together. Why do we make new years resolutions? Because it is a new year, out with the old and in with the new. What kind of resolutions should we make? The kind that make us better but also brings us more joy than the previous year.

And rebirth? Well, that can happen anytime of the year. If we see ourselves going the wrong direction we can change direction and choose another path. We can be reborn as many times as we see fit. That's the beauty of it.

"Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn."

— Mahatma Gandhi