New Year's resolutions

The beginning of the year is always a time where we make resolutions. We want to change, we want to improve and develop and we want to stop bad habits and introduce healthier ones. Often New Year's resolutions are short-lived and are only effective for a very limited amount of time - if at all. When I was reading an article about change I came to understand that one reason why those resolutions don't work is because we try to become somebody we are not. Instead of being truly who we are and accept our flaws and our beauty, we try our hardest to be somebody else. And herein lies the problem. 

The following quote summarises what the paradoxical nature of change means: 

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"...change occurs when one becomes what he is, not when he tries to become what he is not. Change does not take place through a coercive attempt by the individual or by another person to change him, but it does take the time and effort to be what he is - to be fully invested in his current situations."

(Beisser, A.R. (1972). The Paradoxical Theory of Change, "Gestalt Therapy Now", Penguine Books)

Be who you are and change will come.
Happy New Year 2014!