A movement is Replacing New Year's Resolutions and It's Working for Those Willing to Give It a Try

Many of us have totally given up where New Year's Resolutions are concerned. We have left a sad little trail behind us that seems to reach out into infinity...liberally strewn with broken promises and dead resolves. So what's the point?

Still when the time approaches, most of us can't help but think about our weight or our savings plan or a thousand other things that really could take some cleaning up.

We wrestle with not actually calling our hopes and dreams resolutions. How about "new beginnings" or something equally innocuous? It's hard to resist a clean slate...a new year...hope. Can't the phoenix rise out of the ashes one more time?

About two decades ago a group of people started something called "Miracle Lists", with some considerable success. When others want to learn what they are doing and how it works, they are quick to suggest that each group create their own name for the lists. For some, the word "miracle" is loaded.

It works like this: you get together every New Year's sans booze and make two lists. This usually takes an hour or more for each one. The first is a list of all of the "miracles" that have occurred during the last year. Others use the word "accomplishments" or something close. Don't get too into it, because anything will work. They are events that happened over the last year that were both positive and appreciated. Some were produced by the efforts of the person making the lists some were instigated by others and some just seemed to drop out of the sky.

When everyone has run out of material, which often evolves into 20 - 50 entries, or the hour is up, they stop and go on to the next step. Going around the room, one at a time, each person reads an entry until all are done. No discussions are held...the others just listen.

Back to the drawing board. List two consists of the "miracles" each person is willing to have happen in the year to come. The same procedure is followed with an hour allowed for everyone to make a new list, followed by the same kind of sharing as with list one.

The group then agrees to meet the following New Year's Eve, the lists are put into the hands of a member who can be trusted not to misplace them and it's time to eat.

Booze, optional.

The real fun starts the next year when the group gathers again. Each person again makes a list of the "miracles" that came their way in the past year. Then the lists of the miracles they were willing to have surface over the same period of time are distributed and each person goes over his/her list and checks off the ones that "came true". Following this, they go around the circle and share both lists...one item per each person until completed. Usually there is a high success ratio.

The last step is making lists for the up and coming year. Sometimes an item that didn't happen is again listed and sometimes the material is mostly fresh. Often it's a combination.

Groups of long-standing love to look back over old lists to see what once mattered, that no longer does. They find they are able to track their progress through life by watching their hopes and dreams change.

What is vastly important is that failure isn't factored in. It's an "up" experience and reassuring to those willing to lay their lives open to a chosen few. Why not try it?

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