2009 = Change?

Big Frank is preparing for the Big Change. We are moving out of 2008 and into 2009. Why is it that we view this as such a change? It’s absolutely unlike going from Wednesday to Thursday, or from December to January. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it is a number – not a name that is changing. Do numbers carry more momentum, more significance than names? We feel that when our age changes on our birthdays that it is also a time of significance. However, unlike when the year changes, on our birthdays we tend to look back more – it’s a more wistful date. New Years day, on the other hand, is a positive, hopeful, and auspicious day for most. It is a day whose numerical change we feel reverberates within us also. Those backward glances that we do allow ourselves are primarily used in identifying areas in our life that we want to change – either because what we want cannot be found in the review, or because what can be found we want to eliminate. We as humans are commonly identified uniquely as tool-making, or language using. However, Big Frank proposes another way of setting humans – you – apart from other creatures: we are capable of changing ourselves! We can mold our behaviors, our thoughts, our relationship to others, and become something new. We can do this because of our imagination - another distinguishing feature of our humanity. It is because we can imagine ourselves as someone different that we can make those changes. Of course, there are lots of people who neither desire nor will change. For them the new year will be a continuation of the old one, as far as they are concerned.

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe they can change and those who don't. We all know the stories of people who made dramatic spiritual changes: Sidhartha, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Augustine. Physical changes, lifestyle changes, career changes, changes in values - all these can be found in the plethora of self-help books to be found in any bookstore. There is even good research showing that people can change their personalities - as indicated by changes to the so-called big five personality traits: conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness and extraversion. If you are still doubtful of this watch "Protagonist". Big Frank believes change is possible and has a few in mind for 2009 - all good ones - for him and all of you too.