New Year resolutions

I believe New Year resolutions are often not effective because, fundamentally, the first of January is not different from any other day for developing new habits or making changes in daily life. So if it is challenging to make small changes, one-by-one, throughout the year, it is even more difficult to make many drastic changes all at once.

Still, there is something to be said for aiming high, as David Swartz explained in “The Magic of Thinking Big.” I am fascinated by people, who explored similarities and interconnections in the underlying principles of scholarship, arts, and martial arts. There are many illustrious examples in history, from Miyamoto Musashi to Leonardo da Vinci, which are truly inspirations to the world.

A few months ago, I came across a quote from a note written by Bruce Lee to his wife in 1963, when they were dating. It resonates so deeply that I would not be able to formulate my own resolutions more clearly or more completely.

Here it is:

“…To live content with small means;
to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich;
to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;
to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never.
In other words, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.”