{"id":496,"date":"2012-12-27T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2012-12-27T15:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/?p=496"},"modified":"2012-12-27T10:51:46","modified_gmt":"2012-12-27T15:51:46","slug":"how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html","title":{"rendered":"How To Keep Your New Year&#8217;s Resolutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/12\/new-years-resolutions.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-497\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/341\/2012\/12\/new-years-resolutions-300x234.jpg\" alt=\"change the world and self\" width=\"300\" height=\"234\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Most evidence suggests that New Years&#8217; resolutions remain just that: resolutions rather than accomplishments. Part of the reason, I think, is that we aim too high. We ask ourselves to do more than is possible.<\/p>\n<p>We are like the man who has never worked out, but decides he need to start running ten miles a day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Righteous Man&#8217;s Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To counter this tendency, I think we can take some inspiration from a favorite Jewish anecdote. It is attributed to a nineteenth century Rabbi named Israel Salentar, who introduced the study of modern ethics into the curriculum of Jewish schools across Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was young,\u201d he said, \u201cI wanted to change the world. I tried, but the world did not change. So I tried to change my town, but my town did not change. Then I turned to my family, but my family did not change. Then I realized: in order to change the world, first I must change myself: and I am still trying.\u201d So are we all.<\/p>\n<p>By<a href=\"http:\/\/plus.google.com\/u\/0\/102221140128772670237?rel=author%22\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0Evan Moffic<\/a>,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/U6pA1G\" target=\"_blank\">GET YOUR FREE EBOOK: HOW TO FORGIVE EVEN WHEN IT HURTS.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A Happy, Healthy and Sweet New Year to all my readers and friends!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most evidence suggests that New Years&#8217; resolutions remain just that: resolutions rather than accomplishments. Part of the reason, I think, is that we aim too high. We ask ourselves to do more than is possible. We are like the man who has never worked out, but decides he need to start running ten miles a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How To Keep Your New Year&#039;s Resolutions - Truths You Can Use<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Keep Your New Year&#039;s Resolutions - Truths You Can Use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most evidence suggests that New Years&#8217; resolutions remain just that: resolutions rather than accomplishments. Part of the reason, I think, is that we aim too high. We ask ourselves to do more than is possible. We are like the man who has never worked out, but decides he need to start running ten miles a&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Truths You Can Use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RabbiEvan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-27T15:00:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-27T15:51:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/12\/new-years-resolutions-300x234.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Evan Moffic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@chicagorabbi\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How To Keep Your New Year's Resolutions - Truths You Can Use","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How To Keep Your New Year's Resolutions - Truths You Can Use","og_description":"Most evidence suggests that New Years&#8217; resolutions remain just that: resolutions rather than accomplishments. Part of the reason, I think, is that we aim too high. We ask ourselves to do more than is possible. We are like the man who has never worked out, but decides he need to start running ten miles a&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html","og_site_name":"Truths You Can Use","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RabbiEvan\/","article_published_time":"2012-12-27T15:00:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-27T15:51:46+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/12\/new-years-resolutions-300x234.jpg"}],"author":"Evan Moffic","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@chicagorabbi","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html","name":"How To Keep Your New Year's Resolutions - Truths You Can Use","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/12\/new-years-resolutions-300x234.jpg","datePublished":"2012-12-27T15:00:55+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-27T15:51:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#\/schema\/person\/55ddc5e03d79abbfcc6d4f944687d65d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/12\/new-years-resolutions-300x234.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/12\/new-years-resolutions-300x234.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/12\/how-to-change-the-world-by-changing-yourself.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How To Keep Your New Year&#8217;s Resolutions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/","name":"Truths You Can Use","description":"Jewish Wisdom, Jewish Blogs, Daily Jewish Inspiration and Jewish News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#\/schema\/person\/55ddc5e03d79abbfcc6d4f944687d65d","name":"Evan Moffic","description":"Rabbi Evan Moffic writes for people of all faiths. His book, What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Jewishness of Jesus was a 2015 best-seller. His upcoming book of devotions\u2014Shalom for the Heart\u2014takes short biblical passages and show they way they can help us make better choices and live with fewer regrets. With Rabbi Moffic, you will find an open, accessible guide to life\u2019s deepest truths. A husband and father, he graduated from Stanford University in 2000, and was ordained a rabbi in 2006. He leads a congregation in suburban Chicago. You can connect with him directly at emoffic@gmail.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.rabbimoffic.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RabbiEvan\/","https:\/\/x.com\/chicagorabbi"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/author\/emoffic"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":499,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions\/499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}