January is a time people make promises to improve their life. Some people want to loose weight, stop smoking, save money, find a new mate, or be more diligent at school or work. A New Years resolution suggests these individuals want a better or healthier life.
Unfortunately, by February or March such pledges become forgotten dreams. There are, however, other ways to achieve that illusive better life then making annual promises that never get fulfilled..
First, avoid ads that push prescription and over-the-counter medications. Every day these advertisements lay out general symptoms of illnesses you might foolishly imagine you have. Of course, when the side- effects are rattled off, they sound like passages from a horror novel.
Occasionally ads get mighty personal. Recall the ad where the pitchman asks if you're suffering from erectile dysfunction? (Men) Hey mister, I say to myself, that's none of you G—D business. Then we are pitched a product, accompanied by a silly video of two people you assume are lovers, are seated in a pair of bath tubs placed side-by-side, holding hands. My guess is the hot water and a decent partner is all you really needed.
Ads have become ubiquitous. AOL alerts subscribers to an important news video, but first they subject you to an advertisement before showing the news video, usually pitching more medications. You're home relaxing and turn on the TV for some world and local news. Good luck to you. You'll get bombed with three minutes of ads for every four minutes of news. Again, these ads are mostly pitching medication. I get away from this abomination called television news by recording the news, then watching it later. Of course, by then, the world has changed, but that's okay, I can race through the ads. In short, to improve your life, avoid all advertising whenever possible.
The other way to improve your life is to abide by a plan proposed by nineteenth century thinker and writer, Henry David Thoreau. In his work, Walden, he suggests an alternative to wallowing in societies dark coroners of consumerism by working to train your mind to think of and see nature's web of life. He's not suggesting a walk in the park to smell the flowers, but something more elegant, more wholesome, and spiritual: see connections between all things in nature, the trees, grasses, animals, clouds, sky, and so forth. This level of awareness, promises Thoreau, will take you to another level of existence.
In one essay he suggests, "Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. Thoreau's time is organic, a temporal flow to be enjoyed immediately, then savored through later reflection." This idea of fishing in the stream of time contradicts the whole modern notion of buying things to bolster life's enjoyment. Basically, he's said less is more, or can be. Somewhere I read, "The world is a banquet and most poor bastards are starving to death."
We adults start life with a wonder chip in our heads. As children we might have imagined all sorts of things, such as clouds as cotton candy, an empty box as a treasure box, a pile of snow as an instant playground, and a puddle of water as a lake to float a stick that is our boat.
When did the joy of seeing magic all around us vanish? The answer is an historic one. I suggest that the magic of mind games children play most likely left us over 100 years ago, left at the door of the first one-room school house. There discipline replaced discovery, punishment replaced play, conformity replaced imagination, and measured achievement replaced learning from doing and having failure as a teacher. Education has produced strivers, eagerly seeking success over the next person.
Technology has turned our real world into a virtual world where social media gives us the illusion of many friendships but no real close friends. We have been robbed of the experience of passing through the three stages of real experiences: anticipation, participation, and reflection.
Welcome January of the New Year by stating your resolutions, especially ones that promote good health. But resolve to try to improve life with a stroll along the sea shore, watching a sunset, and maybe sharing life with a partner or close friend — in person — without touching a technological gizmo. Take time to write down your Thoreauvian experiences for having a good life. They become your personal treasure trove, your road map to a more satisfying life.
I'll end this discourse with an excerpt from Walden, by Henry David Thoreau.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die discover that I had not lived."
