loved a couple of opening lines from columns in the Sydney Morning Herald - from Maggie Alderson "It's that time of year again - the one where you write a list of things you won't actually do again after January 2" and from John Huxley "Bad news. My new year's resolution to always look on the bright side of life, have more fun, food, sex etc. etc. lasted only until Wednesday lunchtime".
I don't know whether this was what happened to you but I've finally got wise to it and now have two resolutions that are for all the time, not just January 1st - these are to love and accept myself and to be in the present moment. Simple -but unbelievably powerful as a means to be successful and amply demonstrated by Tiger Woods who is in a success class of his own.
Tiger Woods was taught by his parents how to love and accept himself from the start, because they loved and accepted him. His father Earl says "In the earliest stages of a child's development, unconditional love is of vital importance. From this total acceptance, this constant reminder that "I love you. I'll always be here for you", Tiger blossomed like a beautiful spring flower." In his first international tournament Earl said to him "Son, I want you to know I love you no matter how you do. Enjoy yourself" and Tiger stepped up and hit a perfect drive off the first tee.
Even from the age of 6 he was given subliminal tapes to listen to with messages that included *I believe in me *my decisions are strong *I will my own destiny *my will moves mountains *my strength is great. When Tiger got older, Earl said "I established a kind of an open-door policy between us that whenever he wanted to talk to me, everything else - TV, stereo, the works - went off. We would go into another room and talk - not about what I wanted to talk about but what he wanted to talk about." However discipline is part of self-love and Tiger's parents were both strict on discipline and set many important boundaries - including education coming before golf.
At the 2000 British Open Tiger Woods was dubbed "the Chosen One" and his success has caused the world's best golf players to re-evaluate their understanding of their own talent. He learned early on the power of focus, concentration and being in the present moment. One of his subliminal tape messages was "I focus and give it my all", another was "I do it with all my heart". By the age of 7 his father Earl was doing everything possible to distract him - cheat, distract, harass and annoy. When the two played together he would do everything he could think of to break his son's concentration and this helped to hone Tiger's ability to remain focused while competing - designated by one sports commentator as one of the most impressive of his many athletic talents, and one that is probably unequaled in sports. Earl said "I wanted to make sure he'd never run into anybody who was tougher mentally than he was."
His concentration became so intense that when a marshall's walkie-talkie went off at full blast during his back swing in a tournament when still a boy he admitted later that he never heard it. In more recent times at the 2001 Masters it was noted that when he walked past his mother on the way to the first tee he was so focused on the tournament that he betrayed no glimmer of recognition.
This ability to concentrate served him in various ways. By being in the present moment he could shut out all the mental chatter about a previous shot that might create tension in his body and affect his current shot, and he was able to focus exactly on what he wanted to create. After the first round of his first international tournament was over his father asked him what he was thinking about as he stood over that first shot. Tiger replied - "Where I wanted my ball to go, Daddy." "That's when I knew, says Earl Woods, how good he was going to be.
In everyday life there are huge benefits to learning to discipline the mind in this way - when we can stay in the moment away from the regrets, sadness, anger, and guilt of the past or the anxieties and fears of the future we find an inner peace. Meditation is a way of learning how to stop the endless chatter of the mind and to concentrate on the present moment. There are many different methods - find one that suits and then practice every day - you'll find your health improves, you sleep better, your mind is clearer, you're more creative, you're able to move forward in a positive direction and, of course, you'll feel like you're being your best!
Unfortunately we weren't all brought up learning how to love and accept ourselves because our parents showed us how and so this is a journey we need to embark on ourselves and I think it's the most important journey we ever take. Decide to embark on it now.