Hello 2006

Yes, I’m back. Happy New Year. Today’s subject is the new year. Many of you are out there making New Year’s resolutions. I don’t do that. I make promises, promises to myself. This year I promise to do everything and absolutely nothing. Say what? My promise doesn’t make much sense to you do it? Here’s how it goes.

I will do whatever it is I feel like doing. That includes anything and nothing. If one day I want to go out for no reason, dressed differently, and doing something outrageous, so be it. If the next day I have no desire to do one blasted thing, I won’t. Do you see what I’m saying here? My promise to myself is to do what is best for me, day to day. Meaning, I am going to live my life for me. Too many times we all say what we wish to accomplish and succeed at the beginning of each year. Yet, we seem to never meet our goals. I think the reason is we tend to do what we think is the right thing to do and not what we should do. In other words, we live for the approval of others and not for ourselves.

How many times did your New Year’s resolutions include more income and luxury items? How about getting a new job, houses, or car? Let’s not leave out finding a mate and a parcel of new friends. Ever wondered why you never achieve them? It could be because you do it for the image, the status, and the accolades. Not me. I no longer look to the outside to be happy. I look inside myself to see what is really there. What I usually find is a lot less of what I previously thought was happiness and more of what is truly me.

I am content with really simple things in life. I have found harmony and peace in a clean house with the smell of ylang-ylang, vanilla, and rose petals wafting through each room. I find myself happy when each thought I have has been written down with no interruption in the process. I am at my best when I can complete a sudoku puzzle with ease and read a good book in a quiet space. I am elated when I leave home to visit a small relatively unknown museum, old fashion candy store, or just take a neighborhood walk.

Each year I promise myself to do more of hardly anything to discover the me I really am. It is not as hard as you might think. All that is required is grit. The courage and resolve to change the way you have done things in the past. Instead of worrying about what is right and what is wrong, focus on what makes you, you. I find this to be better than making resolutions. The reason being, when you find out who you are and what you want, you manage to accomplish everything you ever wanted to do.