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Well, here we are in 2025. I’m going to start with a familiar January statement of mine that last year flew by, is in the past, involved many changes. Now most of us are looking ahead with some thoughts of changes and/or improvements we can bring into our lives in this new year. The headline was suggested for me to write about in 2025. So I’m leading with it.
In the late 1500s, referencing the futility of building castles in Spain when it was under Moorish rule, the quote about “building castles in the air” became synonymous with unrealistic, far-fetched hopes and dreams. Today daydreaming is characterized as distracting us from facing unpleasant realities, avoiding responsibilities, escape-fantasizing to the point of addiction, reduced attention spans, mind-wandering, and even dangerous in situations requiring concentration such as driving in traffic. To address this, mindfulness/meditation is often recommended to improve our capacity to focus. All relevant and true.
But that view of daydreaming is like only seeing one side of a cube. To broaden our views, let’s include another quote, this one by that well known philosopher of individual freedom, Henry David Thoreau: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” The recommended sequence becomes to dream unencumbered by reality, uncensored, and then do the work to achieve.
ASPIRATIONS. New Year’s Resolutions. I’m suggesting using Mr. Thoreau’s view of activating imagination and not being afraid to reach for changes, goals and behaviors to produce results a bit more far-fetched. Reach. Embrace that frame of mind that leads to innovation, creativity
and discovery of a capacity to improve both ourselves and situations around us beyond our standard way of thinking. Daydream. Let our minds wander. Find something new to reach for. After allowing, even encouraging the discovery of that new path, how to implement? I mean, daydreaming requires follow-up to have any real value.
DESIGN. To reach for our Aspirations most effectively, Schedule. Plan. Organize. Every day we spend a lot of time doing things we don’t really find important to us as individuals. Stuff that’s done mindlessly. I’m suggesting: write what’s truly important to YOU. No one’s going to see this. Now be bold. Re-schedule your daily life around what’s on YOUR list. This isn’t being selfish because many of the items you listed will probably involve others and are of prioritized value to YOU. The most effective way to change a bad habit is to start a new habit.
To actually follow the path I’ve just sincerely recommended, it may help to remember a message I slip into every January column. Last year went by fast enough and this year will, too. Life should have taught all of us that we cannot stay exactly the same over time. You will either improve or you will decline. That’s not a theory; that’s a fact. The choice is up to each of us. I’m just trying to influence yours.
Happy New Year!