Lose ten pounds. Stop
smoking. Save more money. Sound familiar? As we turn the calendar page to 2008, most of
us will go through the annual ritual of making a New Year’s resolution. People have been doing so for about the past
4000 years, from the time of the ancient Babylonians. We examine why so many of us share the
impulse for self-improvement, and how some of us are actually able to keep our
resolutions. Life coaches Laura
Lind-Blum and Lisa Buell join us to walk through the process of making a
resolution, and sticking with it.
Email us your New Year’s resolution ahead of time.
Also, Burlington Free Press reporter Candace Page discusses
the state’s top news stories of 2007.
She says almost all of the notable environmental stories of the year
could fit under the heading: global
warming.
And, we bring you the last installment of our Year in Review
series. VPR’s Steve Delaney remembers some
of the Vermonters who died this past year.
Email from Dot in Montpelier–
It was cold, snowing and dark as I ran through the streets of the
Meadow
neighborhood in Montpelier several weeks ago. I passed two young
men shoveling a drive. The one closest to me looked up and asked with a grin, "Want
to have a snowball fight?"Â My gut reaction was a smiling one, take the
challenge and start tossing. But I hesitated, said to him "another one?"Â and ran
on. All the way home I wondered why I passed up the opportunity, gave such a
lame reaction, and denied myself doing something my spirit wanted to embrace,
in the moment, right then and there, like a child’s joy over play time. What stopped me?
We in this society have become far too guarded. The media, the
criminal
activities in our communities, the paranoid concerns from others about
safety
and inclusion. The harangue of the technological age and all the
connections.
It all takes us out of the moment, into our brains and out of our
spirit. And
that is why so many of us find the holidays not so satisfying any longer.
The
spirit is missing.
So I have resolved to throw lots of snowballs and wait for my next
player.
Happy New Year!