New Year's Resolutions

December 27, 2006
by Rodney Olsen
1 Comment

Are they a help or hindrance?

A new year is just a few days away and millions of people across the world will be coming up with resolutions in the hope of becoming a better person in 2007.

Do New Year’s Resolutions just set us up to be dissapointed or can they help us turn things around? Are they just wishes or goals that we can work towards? Will we be better men and women on December the 31st, 2007, if we create a list of New Year’s Resolutions on January the 1st?

Do you plan to get fitter, stop smoking, find love, become a better parent, embrace your faith, travel more, eat better, relax more, drink less or lose weight?

My regular Wednesday morning guest on 98.5 Sonshine FM is Ross Clifford is the Principal of Morling College in New South Wales and current President of the Baptist Union of Australia. Each week we chat about a range of issues relating to spirituality and belief.

Today we tackled New Year’s Resolutions. Ross talked about their origins and suggested 5 areas of our lives that would benefit from resolutions. He also talked about ways to ensure that those resolutions come to fruition. If you’d like to listen to our discussion you can click here.

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Shopping frenzy

December 27, 2006
by Rodney Olsen
4 Comments

It’s become a national addiction.

On my way to work this morning I cycled past the Morley Galleria shopping centre to see a line of cars filling the car park. There were already a number of people lined up in front of Myer, a couple of hours before opening time. Thousands of people are heading off to find a bargain in the post-Christmas sales.

Most cities around Australia start their sales on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. We wait an extra day and that always seems to be a good reason to grumble. Each year we see people on TV talking about how awful it is that they have to wait an extra 24 hours before they max out their credit cards. They think it would be better all around if those who work in the retail industry only had the one day off for Christmas to recover from the extra stress of last minute Christmas shoppers before they face the barrage of post-Christmas shoppers.

Have we really become that addicted to consumerism that we can’t relax with our families for an extra few hours? Do we really need to fill our homes with extra ‘stuff’ that much and that soon?

As well as the many thousands that will head off to find a bargain today, there’s sure to be a long line of people waiting to exchange Christmas gifts that were the wrong size, wrong colour or just plain wrong.

I enjoy getting a bargain as much as anyone but I have no real desire to be crammed in next to thousands of other people, all wanting to be served at once. I have enough self-control and patience to wait a week or two until it all calms down.

Let me remind you of the coping strategies that I mention each year. If you are venturing into your local shopping centre to bag a bargain or two there are just two things to remember.

1. Stay calm amidst the chaos.

2. My shirt size is XL.

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