Resolution lists doesn’t work for me. I keep biting my nails. I keep not practicing banjo. I keep drinking too much coffee. And somehow the list always ends up on the backside of my shelf or somewhere it's impossible to see….
I'm working on appreciation-lists too, but the white paper and lack of words is too depressing.
However, I stumbled over another list-type, which might be a good list for you too, if you like to ponder about goals, achievements, purpose and meaning…
In Herborg Kråkevik's new-written Christmas-song one of the lines goes something like this "I stede for en ønskeliste, skriv en liste med hva du ikke vil miste".
"Instead of a list of wishes, write a list of things you don't want to loose".
I've kept thinking about those words the last week. Now as I am drinking my last morning coffee of 2019, and preparing for the all the last lasts of this last day of a year…I will write that list.
You might think that lists of wishes, achievements, or promises, and list of things you don't want to loose, are all the same thing. It is the same in the way that you can write it down with great engagement, and then never look back it, like I do with my list of New Year Resolutions. But I find that the way I phrase my words or thoughts, not only effects WHAT I put down, but also my perspectives of the things I write down and the amount of pressure related to it. Where as my resolution-list would say "I want to practice blues guitar 30 min every day", y Not-loose-list would say "I don’t want to loose the motivation for growing and evolving".
I realized as I wrote my list, that the not-loose list reminds me of the things I'm thankful for, but without having to write the traditional appreciation list. My list also doesn't tell me what I should or should not do, but what it makes sense to prioritize(a vague but important difference). In the seek for joy, happiness and a meaningful life,
I believe this list is in fact a better guidance then the resolution-list.
Just a little tip for all ye list-writers. I will leave it here, with a "sample" of my own list, and I hope some of you will try it out, for your own curiosity and mental journey. Feel free to comment or share your lists!
Things I don’t want to loose (some of them)
- Mummy and daddy
- My siblings
- The opportunity to come home any time
- A good relationship to my nephews
- Charlotte
- Jennifer
- The pull towards the earth/nature around me
- Duncan
- Marc
- The possibility/ability to express myself
- The joy for music
- Nathalie
- Motivation to keep being.
