Be It Resolved

A woman who was experiencing a variety of emotional problems went to see a psychiatrist about her troubles: her inability to “find herself”; her inability to resolve the question of what her life was all about. “I want to know who I am and what I ought to be doing with my life,” she demanded. After listening to her lament, the psychiatrist wrote a prescription. “Don’t come back until you have used it up,” she said. When the pharmacist read the prescription, he said to the woman, ” I can’t fill this, but you can!” The prescription read, “Spend one hour some Sunday watching the sunrise while walking in a cemetery.” She did and, in so doing, she got in touch with the big picture again.1

It is “New Year’s Day,” the day many of us make our annual “New Year’s Resolutions.” Put another way, the day many of us try to get in closer touch with the “big picture,” as we try to resolve…