342 days since I stopped...

I didn’t make any resolutions this year. I didn’t sit down and write out what I’d like to accomplish. When anyone asked if I had any resolutions I would answer with “I’m not sure.” Because let’s face it, we’ve all done the tired act of dreaming big and then nose-diving into December having succeeded for about 1.3 months. OK, maybe YOU have done better than I have. I will give you a blue ribbon. Congratulations.

I’ve been thinking about what is BEHIND a resolution, more than the actual statements I’ve always made.

I want to eat healthier. Why? So I stay thin? So I feel good? So I’m “in?”

I want to work out 3 times a week. Why? So I can fit into what is “pretty?” So I can be healthy? Live longer? Why?

I want to stop complaining. Why? So I’m not an annoying friend/wife/co-worker? So that life looks a little lighter, a little less cynical? So people like me?

I want to write to my friends every month. So they know they are loved? So I look like a good friend? So that I can maintain friendships that might otherwise dwindle? So I'm not lonely?

The fact is, I don’t know exactly what is behind the resolutions I’ve made in the past or those I contemplated making this year. But what I THINK—well I think we all just want to be happy. Content. Filled with joy. At peace. Loved. And, at least for me, making resolutions is a way to try to reach those goals. But once a year? I wonder if the reason so many of us drop our goals is that we only think of them as annual resolutions. What if every day we resolved to have a good day, be thankful for what we have, be kind to those we come across at the store or in the lane beside us, bite our tongue when we think of something negative to say and instead think of something positive to share, make efforts to tell the ones we love we love them, serve people, give to others when it’s not easy or convenient, learn something new, teach something, share something, try something, be something. Wouldn’t it be cool to live every day full of such resolve? So that when January 31st of whatever year rolls around, it feels just like another, normal, joyful, wonderful day?!

This reminds me of happiness. Everyday happiness :) I hope you have a really, truly, beautiful year!