New Year’s resolution
I didn’t see this New York Times op-ed ("Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right", 12/29/05, by UVa psychology professor Timothy Wilson) until I spotted a mention of it in one of our local papers. I’m not completely sold on the idea that thinking too much is a bad thing, though I have to say I’d agree that rumination makes already-unhappy people unhappier. But it was this paragraph that caught my eye:
What can we do to improve ourselves and feel happier? Numerous social
psychological studies have confirmed Aristotle’s observation that "We
become just by the practice of just actions, self-controlled by
exercising self-control, and courageous by performing acts of courage."
If we are dissatisfied with some aspect of our lives, one of the best
approaches is to act more like the person we want to be, rather than
sitting around analyzing ourselves.
My New Year’s resolution is to try out the suggestion in that last sentence and see if it works.
(Other New Year’s resolutions: to keep a list of all the books I read, like I’ve seen several fellow library bloggers do; to work on my public-speaking skills; and to try my hand at some verse translation. And, as per every New Year, to floss more.)
Oh yes! I, too, plan to keep a list of what I read. I’m getting to that age where I’m starting to forget whether or not I’ve read something.
i don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, but that’s certainly one that I could get behind, the one about trying to act more like the person I’d like to be, not the one about keeping lists of books I’ve read because I guess that’s what my web site is mostly for.