December 27, 2025- When will it be a good idea?

The great secret is this: it is not enough to have intuitions; we must act on them; we must live them.

~Patanjali

It’s an interesting time of year. This is the time of the greatest discord between our stated intentions and our real intentions.

As we approach the new year and people carefully start to consider what changes they would like to bring about, they dutifully embrace the “T” of the recent social media post they saw about SMART goals, and they set January 1 as their target date to begin. Then, between that very moment and the changing of the calendar, they do the opposite.

What are we doing here? Ignoring the needs of others in December is not going to make our random acts of kindness easier in January. Our binge drinking now is not going to make it easier to put the liquor bottles away a few days later. Cramming as many Christmas cookies as possible into our bellies that’s not going to make the brown rice taste better in the future.

We do not have to deny ourselves simple pleasures in order to execute positive change. Progress, when charted overtime, is always a crooked line. But if something is a good idea in the near future, it is a good idea today. Even if we cannot accomplish our goals today, we can begin the process of removing the barriers to these goals.

This is a time for planning, but it is also a time for action. It is a time for discipline, but also grace. It is the time, like always, to move incrementally closer to the best version of us.