Using the concept of New Year's resolutions to get to know ourselves better

This recent New Years night was simple and lovely: nice conversation with new friends, cheese fondue, a little wine, fireworks, bicycles and subway rides, and a kiss that I would not have traded even for the world's most elaborate fireworks display. I hope that evening set the tone for this new year and those to come.

As this new year settles in front of our feet, I feel very blessed for all I have right now. While I am not stimulated to the utmost in each aspect of my life, there are no gaping holes. Phew!

I don't have specific resolutions for the new year (I am already breaking one of the big new year's resolution no-nos!...they should be specific). However, here are some general ideas I have for this new year:
-Express the positive feelings I have about others more often
-Feel more relaxed at the office
-Get to bed earlier during the week (i.e. always before twelve!)'
-Visit Charleston at least once (it's looking like June will be the month)
-Complete the Zumba teacher training I signed up for later this month
-Spend less time when I go into the supermarket
-Ask, when possible, when I want to use something that's not mine
-Explore more options for post-Americorps

Here is a snip-it from an article from the Boston Globe on New Year's resolutions that I enjoyed, especially the sentences which I bolded:

"The month of January has resolving built right into its name: The ancient Romans named it after the two-faced god Janus, who, with one face looking backward and the other forward, symbolized the hope that we might learn from the past to improve ourselves in the future.


"Holton says that getting resolutions right means going beneath the surface, not just of your own behavior, but also of the mental processes behind keeping resolutions...it encourages you to look more carefully at the actual reasons you've failed to keep your promise. If you can't manage one phone call a week, there's a more serious reason you aren't calling your mom. Once you've started to scratch the surface, that's how change begins.

"Real freedom doesn't mean endless choices at all times--it means being able to choose the rules that will bind you..."

From Resolved! by Joshua Rothman, in the Boston Globe (1/1/12)


All of my hope for us all to make 2012 one of the most authentic, joyful, deep, loving, and exciting years of our lives.