Jay Rerekura: What do you want to harvest this year?

Intentionality can be compared to cultivating and nurturing a plant, write Jay Rerekura. Photo / 123rf

OPINION

I’ve never really been a “new year, new me” kind of guy.

And like a meme (how do you even pronounce this word?) I always see floating around at this time of year, you’re getting more of the same from me this year as well.

I am all for goal setting and planning pathways and bettering ourselves, but many of these New Year’s resolutions, in my opinion, are so clichéd, it’s almost a cliché to talk about it being a cliché … one more cliché.

Let’s go over the list of New Year’s resolutions: lose weight, exercise more, drink less, more acts of kindness, reduce waste, save more … the list goes on and on and on. More of this and less of that seems to be the theme … more or less.

I actually envy people who have resolutions; I’ve just never been very good at it myself.

The one time I decided to do one and actually did it was a few years ago when, mostly at the insistence of my wāhine whilst folding my odd socks and holey undies (or holy undies, I forget which), I announced my New Year’s resolution to be buying new socks and undies. I achieved it and I felt accomplished and very proud of myself.

So I really do get the kick people can get out of achieving goals they have set for themselves.

It reminds me of the whakataukī (aphorism … that didn’t help you did it?) “He kai kei aku ringa”. Which translates literally to “There is food at my hands”, but speaks to a wider context of resilience, empowerment and being resourceful with what you have available to you. The biggest asset being your ability to make something from nothing.

In the context of a gardener, it could look like this. Preparing the soil, collecting the seeds, planting the seeds and then cultivating and nurturing them so they thrive and grow into something where before there was nothing. But the intent of those hands was to make a tomato or a kumara or even my favourite, a kamokamo, through a process that seemingly took nothing to something.

But outside of that process, the thing that mattered most for that tomato, kumara or sweet, sweet kamokamo was intention. It was the intention to make this thing happen. It was intent that got the whole project off the ground. It was intentionality that was intended for this intention to become so intense, lol.

But all jokes aside … for me, being intentional is the thing that I think I wanna be about this year. Making clear intentions about how this year pans out for me. Well, not only for me but for the things I do alongside the other important people in my life. Whānau, friends and mahi.

What is the thing I want created at the end of this year? What do I want to cultivate? Where do I want to see growth? And those questions might be answered by some of those stock standard New Year’s resolutions, they could be the same thing. New Year’s resolutions, setting new intentions and creating achievable goals.

No judgment from me and maybe it is just finding the sense that we can look through that makes the most sense to us.

So, a few questions for readers as we move into the coming 12 months.

What do you want to harvest this year? What will you sow in your garden? What is the intention you have? What kai will you have at your hands once the sun has set on this year, 2023?