By Sat Purkh Kaur Khalsa
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
I was never one to make a list of New Year’s resolutions—but sometimes one is just compelled to; so I would end up generating something like a list. But I would wait until January 6th or 7th, just to take some of the pressure off! In my experience, when I created resolutions that were to begin on the 1st, I had usually broken them by the 3rd—exasperating and not a little self-defeating!
Eventually, I just quit making them at all and began living my life in the present moment. My motto became “do or don’t do”; no more trying. No more kicking myself for what I hadn’t done yet. Instead, I would ask myself, “Do you really want to do it or not?” And then act—or not. It was a clarifying exercise in what was really important to me in any given moment. Instead of resolving, I began surrendering—and that was the key to real transformation in my life.
As I related more and more to the teachings of Yogi Bhajan, I began to understand the importance of tomorrow, especially for women. As women, we know there will be a tomorrow. The future is hard-wired into our bodies and our psyches. And in that tomorrow, we will either pay for the actions of yesterday or bear the fruits of them. When I began to make that connection—that what I did today would affect my experience of tomorrow dramatically, I began to relate to my own capacity to make changes in my life.
For the first time in my life, I began to relate to my own will—my own personal power, in a healthy way. Instead of acting out, I began acting for—for the benefit of my Self and others. The process began with something very small—what I ate. I began to notice that what I ate today would either make me feel great the next day or terrible. I finally grew tired of terrible! Then I began to add small sadhanas into my day: 11-minute meditations, singing every day, walking, writing. Those small disciplines opened up possibilities of longer commitments; transformative practices that have impacted my life in countless ways.
Yogi Bhajan often said that it takes as much effort to do something well as it does to do something poorly. So today, I make right effort. I do the next right thing. And when I can’t or won’t, I don’t kick myself. I relax, take a deep breath, and let it go. Tomorrow is another day. Keeping up isn’t about being perfect; it’s about a willingness to never give up on ourselves or each other. It’s a determination to always get back up when you fall. It’s a commitment to our own innocence and the wonder that is tomorrow.
I’m still working on my capacity to have hope and faith in tomorrow—that may be my life’s work. But I’ve become a believer. I know my capacity to project, expand, nurture, and grow something into being. I understand the power of my thoughts and their effect on my future and the future of those around me. I can heal, bless, and uplift; or I can be self-involved, depressed, and negative. It’s my choice with every breath.
As you think about your own resolutions (or surrenders), use this meditation, Beaming and Creating the Future to crystallize your vision of tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. The Aquarian Age is here. What will you create? What will we create together? Here’s an excerpt from Yogi Bhajan about how to face tomorrow—as you!
“Man without intuition is a man in the dark. You may have a candle; but if it’s not lit, it doesn’t mean a thing. I understand there are millions and millions of therapies and paths and religions and realities and individuals. But there is only one individual that is you. There cannot be any other. It doesn’t matter where you go or what you do; nothing outside of you shall solve your problem.
"You must understand, consciousness has no emotion, no feeling, no desire. Consciousness is a Universal Infinity, which you can only get if you process your own life, your own emotions. If you just get to the intuitive tomorrow, if you know what tomorrow is, in your life there shall be no sorrow. Without tomorrow you make no sense.
“There is always a constant fear of tomorrow. Actually tomorrow doesn’t exist because tomorrow becomes today when it faces you. So why are you so upset about tomorrow? When it becomes today, you deal with it today. You deal with it every day.
“Fighting mentally with your weaknesses is a hard labor; but it has bounty in it. When you are a child, if you are not innocent, you are cursed. When you are adult, if you are not disciplined, you are cursed. When you are old with gray hair, if you are not wise, you are cursed. So curse is there—your own caused curse. You didn’t develop yourself through discipline. So what did you develop? Money, home, real estate, this and that. You developed everything but what you need. When you were young and youthful, you didn’t develop discipline; when you are old, you will never have the wisdom. Isn’t it amazing?
“All the books in all the libraries in the world cannot save you. All therapies cannot save you. All procedures and systems cannot save you. The only thing which can save you is you—that’s the only thing that can save you. No outside power is powerful enough to save you. You are very mistaken. When you start searching outside you for something, you just lose time. You waste time. Because within you is all that you need.”
© The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan, April 4, 1995
Sat Purkh Kaur Khalsa is a writer, editor, poet, singer and songwriter—and a pretty good cook, too. She is a KRI Certified Kundalini Yoga Instructor as well as a Professional Trainer in the KRI Aquarian Trainer Academy. Sat Purkh joined the KRI staff in 2006 and served as the Creative Director and Editor until 2013. Currently she serves as Curriculum Coordinator for The Kundalini Research Institute’s Immersion Level One Teacher Training, offered annually each August.
