Mystic Mantra: On making New Year plans and resolutions

The year 2019 has just gone past and we have barely stepped into 2020, with all its fanfare and undoubtedly with new expectations. But before we fully get into our plans for the New Year, it would be worth asking ourselves if we still have some regrets hanging at the back of our mind for the things that we for one reason or the other, could not accomplish in the past year? Would it then not be a good idea to reflect and pinpoint the reasons for the failure in achieving a particular goal or set of goals?

It is almost certain that in these “crossing over days” from 2019 to 2020, most of us would have received a WhatsApp message or two, advising us to forget the past and move on with life, making renewed plans to do better. By itself that is wonderful advice. One must move on towards the future with determination and a positive attitude. But such counsel is better taken with a pinch of salt.

I believe that one can do much better in the New Year by keeping in mind the factors that hampered one’s progress or prevented one from achieving the past year’s goals. More than just a sort kind of bookkeeping of the events, a proper reflection, possibly with the help of a good friend or an elder of the family, can throw up interesting insights, helping us see certain details that we ourselves were unable to recognise.

Among the reflections, it is important to consider what role did I assign to God while executing my plans? Was God at all part of my plans? The next point would be to see if everything I did was done transparently with utmost honesty? Did I, for instance, compromise on certain moral values and principles thinking that no one was watching me or that I would not be caught? Again, what role did prayer play right from the moment of my planning to the daily execution of my plans?

Thus, in the New Year, one of our resolutions should be to keep God, not just while planning things, but in the centre of everything. This means that God is remembered not only during the time of need or in a moment of crisis but in all the pursuits of our everyday life.

Jesus, while teaching his disciples on the need to depend on Him, had told them, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing”. It is really as simple as that. Let us never forget that our plans and resolutions can “bear much fruit”, when we, not even for a moment, let go of God.