Well, here it is the12th January – almost halfway through the first month of 2012. I haven’t come up for air yet, let alone found some quiet time for the reflection and contemplation required to set considered resolutions or plan for the coming year. But time has a way of passing, whether we are ready for it or not! So, did you make any New Year’s Resolutions? Have you kept them so far, or have they already fallen by the wayside?

More importantly, if you did set goals, what were they about? Were they built on your hopes and dreams of what you would like to achieve and how you would like yourself and your life to develop? Or like most people’s, were they yet another opportunity to beat up on yourself, berating yourself about all the things you feel you ‘have to’ give up or ‘must’ put into place to make yourself into a more ‘worthwhile and acceptable’ person.

Besides the act of deciding to do something towards achieving your wishes, goals and plans that we usually think of when talking about resolutions, there’s also another meaning to the word. In the context of photography, resolution refers to the amount of detail in a digital image which affects its clarity. So a high resolution image has more dots of visual information per square centimetre and it consequently looks clearer and shaper than a low-res one. It can also be blown up to a larger size allowing the viewer to see the fine points of the picture more easily.

Maybe at the beginning stages of the year the sort of ‘resolution’ we should be thinking about is not the one that defines what we ‘should’ and ‘should not’ be doing, but the one that allows us to turn our attention on ourselves and look with clear eyes and an open heart at the details and the bigger picture of our lives. This would then enable us to make more focused and appropriate decisions about who we really are and how we want to live out that truth in our daily lives.

* What do you think about New Year’s Resolutions?

* Does the idea of a ‘high resolution’ look at your life make a difference to how you might approach the ‘fresh start’ that each year offers?

It’s the end of December – a time when people traditionally take stock of the past twelve months and look forward to think about their hopes, dreams and plans for the coming year.

When looking back, it’s often the personal, national and international losses, tragedies and disasters that most immediately spring to mind. It can take a little more effort to access our memories of the good times, the pleasant events and even the moments of pure joy that took our breath away. Researchers tell us that this is because we remember things that really impact us. What stands out the most are occurrences that are different, immensely significant, or that have strong emotions attached to them. In fact, sometimes we don’t even remember the exact details too clearly, but we can re-experience the feelings quite acutely.

I once heard a speaker at a conference refer to ‘invoking the pleasure principle’. He suggested we sit quietly and remember something we had particularly enjoyed – one of the good times, and bring it into our conscious mind very vividly and clearly, feeling it with all of our senses, as if we were actually there and it was happening right now. Then we were to take note of how our body felt – the relaxation, the happiness, the pleasure of the moment. He said that with practice we could return to those feelings when we needed to, to balance out the more unpleasant experience of pain, worry or anxiety.

As you review the year, I encourage you to identify the hard times and how they affected you - and then move on. Take stock of the strengths you drew on to get you through, and acknowledge your own ability and capability. Fully know that you possess deep resourcefulness and believe that you will also have the strength to face whatever else next year may bring.

Then consider the good times. Once again access your own ‘happy place’ and look forward to the coming year with hope, anticipation and an expectation of new happy memories to be made, and pleasant new experiences to relish and enjoy.

• When looking back over the past year, what memories are the strongest?
• What is your own 'happy place' like?
• What are you most looking forward to in the coming year?

Last night there was a full lunar eclipse and I was keen to photograph it. I spent quite a bit of time scouring the internet for information on the best camera settings to use and working out what time I should be up to capture the full process. The night before, I did a dry run trying practice shots on various settings.

The evening came and I was well prepared. I had a chart of camera settings for each phase of the eclipse; my camera was on the tripod; and my alarm was set, allowing plenty of time to get up, grab a torch and a jacket and drive to the top of a nearby hill away from the distraction of streetlights.

Everything was ready, except for the weather! All day it had been cloudy, but I convinced myself that the clouds would blow away or that the moon would rise above them. I was wrong. I got a single shot of a moon-looking shape with a slight ring around it vaguely showing through the cloud and then the moon moved behind even thicker cloud and all I got was blackness.

What a let-down. Naturally enough I was disappointed, but putting it into the context of a lifetime, how important was it really? Yes, it was a missed opportunity. Yes, I was a bit tired and grumpy this morning. Yes, it would have been great to experiment further with my photography. On the other hand, I’ll get another chance in 2014 and I’ll have more time to learn the intricacies of how my new camera works and how the settings interact with each other by then, and I may achieve a better result with the extra practice.

This was a good lesson in resilience for me. Sometimes, no matter how well-intentioned, well-informed and well-prepared we are, things still go wrong. We face unexpected setbacks or what we try just doesn’t work out. It’s natural to feel bad about this, but if we look at the bigger picture we are able to put it into perspective and deal with those feelings.

What are the best ways you know to overcome disappointment?

How do you build your resilience?

Last night on Close Up I learnt about Robert Loretz, Massey High School’s Head of Music, who has been voted New Zealand’s Most Inspiring Teacher.

Deeply committed to his students, he uses drama, humour and unorthodox methods to engage his pupils and instils in them not only a love of learning, but a desire to achieve excellence and as a result, a greater belief in themselves and their abilities. Excellence is a word we often shy away from, but excellence is not perfection – it is aiming to be your very best self, and then some. It is within the grasp of all of us and the motivation to be our best self often flows from the inspirational example of others.

When listening to Loretz talk of his teaching, it is obvious he loves both his music and his job with great passion. He also speaks from the heart and uses other words that we sometimes feel a bit uncomfortable about, such as soul and spirit, and imbues them with a very modern relevance so that they seem very natural, which is, I think, as it should be. These are words with profound meaning that express the deepest parts of us that are capable of being inspired. They respond with powerful emotions that motivate us and propel us towards taking actions that express that inspiration.

Talking of music, Loretz says that it has the type of beauty that can touch the soul. And leading on from this, he says he sees inspiration as getting the spirit into someone – and says that acknowledging and believing in people is what gives them the sense of their ability to be great.

• What inspires you?
• Who do you find inspirational?
• How does that inspiration motivate you to be and do the best that you can?