Navigating the New Year

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Inevitably, inexorably, whether you want it to or not, the sun rises; the sky weakens and pales and morning forces its way back out, the day looming uncompromisingly behind it - bullying. And so the New Year finds us, hung over and tired and wondering if we did anything embarrassing last night.

And of course, the New Year brings with it its usual wearying tyranny, a gauntlet designed especially for the introspectively inclined; New Year's resolutions.

So. What should we be resolving for the year 2004? What should we be taking bleary-eyed vows to achieve, to become, to develop? Good question. I don't know, actually. What do you think? Personally, I was sitting around trying to figure it out and I came up kind of empty. I mean, last year didn't go too bad. And the things that didn't work out I either fixed already, or still have no idea how to make go. So what do I work on?

And of course, the New Year brings with it its usual wearying tyranny, a gauntlet designed especially for the introspectively inclined; New Year's resolutions.

In the absence of any clear direction in this confused and misdirected age - people drifting like paper boats on gutter currents, racing towards gaping storm sewers - the best I could come up with was some generalist ideas. Unspecific areas for creeping, surreptitious improvement. Because being lost is fine. Being lost is good. Do you want to spend your whole life in the warm, safe comfort of home? Of course not.

Being lost is good. But you want to have some sort of plan for finding your way.

And so with this in mind. With directionless confusion and drifting. With foggy seas pressing around us. With some small ability to enjoy all this for what it is. And with the need for some sort of plan; with these things, I will step boldly to the bow, scowl theatrically down at my bleary-eyed shipmates, and make these recommendations for 2004. Keep in mind that I have no idea which direction land is. I'm just suggesting that these things may help us find it. Wherever it is.

Whatever it is.

1. Pursue Flexibility. Pursue flexibility in all its forms. Nothing survives like flexibility. Think about this; have you ever noticed that when drunk drivers get into accidents, they never seem to get hurt? At least not badly. Of course you have, everyone seethes at the irony that sober victims are killed or injured while the drunks are virtually unharmed. There's a pretty good reason for this phenomenon that has nothing to do with anything so poetic as only the good dying young – the drunk is loose and relaxed, while the sober people are tensed up for the impact.

Hard is brittle, soft is strong. Bones shatter and break when they are struck, but relaxed muscle tissue gives and absorbs and remains intact, if a little bruised. This is no dark secret of government trained security experts - we know that things that are flexible can survive tremendous forces, while rigid structures shatter like eggshells. So, does this imply then that people who are inflexible, who have firm, unflinching positions about things, who see the world in blacks and whites with no room for the contextual sensitivity of greys and blues, are more fragile than those who are flexible and adaptable?

Probably. Think about religious fundamentalists.

Religious fundamentalists seem like a good example of the dangers of inflexible thinking. Start with a religion based on ancient documents that outline what is and isn't acceptable behaviour. Then add an unyielding belief that the tenets must be followed, verbatim, without question. It's a volatile formula that quickly yields interesting results. For illustrative purposes, see Jonestown, Guyana; Waco, Texas; and, to a lesser extent, assorted revivalist religions in the American Midwest.

In all things, be flexible. Be adaptable. Be prepared for the possibility that the car may flip, the boat may sink, and you may be wrong. Even when you're sure you're right. Especially when you're sure you're right. If you're right, you shouldn't be afraid of dissenting opinions. Rigidity equals weakness. Beware of it.

2. Listen to your instincts. You have instincts. You may have forgotten them. You may have battered them into submission with strong perfumes and colognes, relentless, eclipsing logic and soul-wearying amounts of booze and television, but they are there. You are an animal. An animal with a good (relatively speaking) wardrobe, but an animal just the same.

We make a lot of noise about animals having a sixth sense. Dogs and cats detecting danger before it strikes, sensing the presence of unseen spirits, spotting the dark shadow in an unremarkable man's heart. There's a theory, though, that animals don't have a sixth sense at all. An educated thesis that says that the only difference between us and animals is that they listen to the senses and instincts that they have. When a dog senses that something is wrong, a dog doesn't tell itself that it's being unreasonable, a dog acts.

Be like your dog.

Develop your instincts like muscles, through exercise and use. Develop them that one day they may save you. Notice the way you feel when you look at someone. Register the way things smell, so that you'll know when they change. Pay attention to what your body tells you. Logic is a beautiful thing, the stuff of great civilizations and mighty empires, but too much of anything will hurt you, handicap you, grind you to dust. Oxygen is both toxic and combustible in high concentrations.

Be like your dog.

And there, rain-soaked nomads, you have it. My plan for the coming year. It's not a lot to go on. It's certainly not like having a roadmap with the hotels and gas stations marked on it for you, but who wants all that anyway. And until the sun burns this fog off the sea and navigation becomes possible again, it's all I've got. It'll have to do.