Catholic Diocese of Spokane, Washington

From the

Official News Magazine of the Diocese of Spokane

(From the Jan. 13, 2005 edition of the Inland Register)

After a Christmas week of overeating, sleeping in, and lying about, I don’t need to give much thought to what my New Year’s resolutions might be. They’re screaming so loudly that they’re hurting my ears.

I decide to write them down: Get up earlier. Exercise at least five days a week. Eat less sugary, fatty food. Eat more vegetables. Get back in the habit of praying together as a family.

As I write I begin to add detail and think of more things I should do. Buy pre-washed greens, so I’m more apt to serve salad to my family. Organize family routine so we can commit to a regular prayer time. Buy a handheld electronic Personal Digital Assistant so I can get organized. Go over the budget so I can see why we never seem to have enough money.

One thing leads to another. I feel like going back to bed. Should I eat the rest of the Christmas candy for a quick pick-me-up?

The New Year offers an exciting opportunity to visualize our life as it could be. As Christians we inherit the promise “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold new things have come.” (2 Cor 5:17)

Yet, most of us understand through experience why New Year’s Resolutions are more often the butt of a joke than impetus for change.

My visions of being a “new creation” are usually big ideas for self-improvement and grand schemes for bettering our family life. Over the years I’ve begun to understand that my whopping wishes only materialize, if at all, in tiny increments.

I’ve been able to keep an exercise regimen by starting with two days a week, not five, and by promising to run with a friend. Years ago I tried to commit to an hour of prayer each day. Some days I did, but mostly I ended up hardly praying at all. Shooting for 10 minutes a day proved more successful, and once I got in the habit of daily prayer the time gradually began to increase.

Leaders of the world’s spiritual traditions have long advocated small steps toward change. Mother Theresa advises, “Small things with great love…. To God there is nothing small.”

Now science proves it, according to Robert Maurer, Ph.D. in his new book One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way. Maurer, a recent transplant to Spokane, says all change, even good change, is scary, and our brains are programmed to resist it. His book explains how studies show that small changes soothe this fear and effectively rewire our nervous system to circumvent resistance.

“When the steps are easy enough, the mind will usually take over and leapfrog over obstacles to achieve your goal,” says Maurer.

For example, to stop eating fatty/sugary foods, begin by throwing away just one bite. Do this for one month before trying to throw away two bites.

Maurer tells of one woman who began exercising by simply standing on her treadmill to read the paper and sip her coffee. After a month, she began to walk for one minute, and then increased by a minute each week. Eventually she formed the habit of running a mile a day.

It sounds great, but I’m impatient. I want all my New Year’s resolutions to come true now. Small steps take too long.

Maurer would say slow change is better than no change. His book states the typical New Year’s resolution is repeated 10 years in a row — an annual ritual of failure.

Who needs that? I’m convinced. I’ll quiet those screaming New Year’s resolutions by choosing one small step forward. I’ll take one moment each day to remind myself that God is faithful. Remembering this opens my heart to patience, hope, and transformation. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord.” (2 Cor. 3:18)

(Mary Cronk Farrell is a Spokane free-lance and children’s writer. Her new children's novel, Fire in the Hole!, is available from Clarion Books.