At the end of every year, three simple questions, at times inadvertently, cross our minds; 'What was good about the previous year, what was bad about it and what do I hope for from the new year.' The answers to these questions provide a lucid picture of the year that's gone by and paint an image of hope for the one ahead. Although it's just another day marking the end of a year on the calendar, it definitely is an important checkpoint. It is, sometimes against our will, a time for some pensive reflection about how things have been and how they might be from now on.
Making and breaking new year resolutions might sound like a cliché, but they most often represent a wish for change. A change in the way things have been. Invariably, the answer to the three questions revolve around, either directly or as as indirect consequence of the good and bad changes of the year bygone.
Is change something that everyone wants? There definitely is significant inertia within us which wards off change. There is something cozy about a routine; quite possibly due to a feeling that in a routine, future is deterministic. Yet at the same time, there is a part within that cribs at the colourless monotony. So should one wish for only good changes to keep the routine cozy enough while making each day interesting in its own way? Paradoxically, bad changes are the ones that provide the right contrast for making other changes look good. One can only describe every other day as better than the worst or worse than the best. So a wish for only good changes loses its meaning in this context.
Change always makes life interesting or troublesome depending on the way one may view it. But, having no changes certainly makes life less and less interesting. In a way, the answer to the three questions is quite simply: changes. One cherishes the good changes, learns from the consequences of bad changes and hopes for interesting changes in the future.
ahan...
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