Happy 2018

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It is bizarre that we think that a new year changes anything. At the same time it is wholly appropriate that we do.

I have not contradicted myself in making those two statements. I have instead highlighted a critical issue in decision making.

A long time ago someone suggested to me that in any situation we have only three choices.

First we can accept the situation we are faced with. That is, of course, what we do the vast majority of the time. Life is too short to do anything else.

Second, we can walk away from the situation: for example, we can resign our job or leave a marriage.

Third, I was told, we can try to change things.

I recall not accepting this logic when presented with it, logical as the argument is. I suggested there was always a fourth option, which is to reframe the situation: that is, we look at it in a different way and start the process of appraisal afresh.

And this last is what we do at New Year. We stand back and reappraise what we want in the belief that things can not just be changed, but be wholly reassessed. That may not be logical but we humans do it all the time. And it clearly can work. When it does we can resolve the paradoxes that face us.

That's the challenge of New Year.

Happy 2018.


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