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| Me & C, a couple of pirates |
I had an interesting conversation on this subject today. I was asking a friend about her new year's resolutions. She didn't have any ideas so I offered, "Well, what is going to be different about 2012?" To which she replied, "I don't know. I have no control over that. What will be will be." We changed the subject.
Last year, Chris and I inadvertently started a new New Year's Eve tradition. We were sitting around in our living room with some good friends and as we approached mid-night, I decided that, minus fireworks, we needed to come up with some kind of significant rite of passage for the old year. I gathered paper, pencils and a few other supplies and we all wrote the things we wanted to leave behind in 2010, things we did not want to carry with us into 2011. Then, we took those slips of paper, put them in a bowl and lit them on fire (my favorite part). Fortunately, our friend Michael thought to have us put a pan under the bowl so our rug remained intact. It's hard to describe how I felt watching our papers burn. Maybe hope is the best word. The fire was both destructive and purifying and left us to enter into the new year unencumbered by the past.
There are so many cliché sayings that we toss around about change, perhaps without really believing them.
Here's what I believe:
*you can start over (no matter how old you are)
*you can learn or be whoever you choose to be--as long as you're willing to work hard
*attitude is everything--pretending helps too
*even if you'd like to change something about yourself, you are wonderful the way you are right this minute
*a good imagination helps in almost any situation--work to protect and develop yours (huge!)
*you choose your response to life so your life is what you have chosen for yourself--own it, change it but don't waste (too much) time complaining about it
*though the people in your life contribute to your happiness, they are not responsible for it. Know yourself and what you need. Then, do it. Be happy. Today.
If that came off as a speech, it is. From me to me. I do not agree with my friend. I think we control a lot more than we think. Which is why 2012 is going to be a great year for me. I know it is.
My big resolution? I'm going to start writing a book. More on that later and it will certainly impact my blogging but really, why not?
Goodbye 2011!
And to all of you--see you in 2012!
G is for, "More love in 2012!"
Interesting post, but I have to disagree with two of your basics. Do you really think a person can learn to be whatever he wants to be if he's willing to work hard? Somehow I doubt I would have the talent or ability to be a brain surgeon, a physicist, or any number of other things no matter how hard I was willing to work. We all have natural gifts that make some things possible for us and other things impossible or at least very unlikely. Somebody who has the brainpower to be a hairdresser or a housekeeper may not have the ability to be a college professor. That's not to say the person may not be holier or wiser than most of the intelligentsia on the planet. We are unlimited in our capacity for holiness if we cooperate with God's grace (the thing that is most important in life.)
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I disagree with is that everyone is wonderful at the moment just the way they are. I've never known anyone who I considered fundamentally evil, but I've read enough to believe those people exist. And certainly history is full of them. The notorious killers certainly were not wonderful just the way they were. And I can remember times in my own life when I was on the way to hell -- I certainly don't think I was wonderful just the way I was at that moment and I'm glad the Lord didn't let me remain comfortable in that place or I might still be there.
Well, that's enough serious talk for one moment. I certainly think your family members are all wonderful just the way you are and I wish I were there to give you all a big hug!
I both agree and disagree with you. I was planning on writing another post around goal setting so I will address your points there. I do believe everything I said but I was coming at it from a different perspective--something that can make all the difference.
ReplyDeleteAs for the road to hell--I don't think we can ever be complacent and assume we've chosen the road to heaven for good. Even the great saints wrote about the lifelong struggle toward holiness. You used to talk about thimble-fulls and swimming pools. I like the analogy but who knows this side of eternity whether he or she is a thimble, a bucket, a swimming pool or an ocean? God's perspective is much bigger than ours.
OK enough for now. Love you mucho. What I want to know is-how many damn walks are you going to take in 2012?
I'll look forward to reading your post on goal-setting. I was a young adult when "I'm Okay, You're Okay" was published and I think the message of the book was poisonous. We are often not okay. If we are in the state of mortal sin we are not only not "wonderful" but are in deadly danger.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, the saints were always well aware of exactly how not okay they were. So on the one hand we are all "fearfully wonderfully made," but we can also be immersed in a cess pool of our own choosing where we are in danger of drowning in the muck and definitely not in a state of wonderful-ness. Thank God for confession and absolution!
As for my "damn" walks, I have already taken a few during the season and have seen the great blue heron flying up the river more than once. Now THAT is wonderful!
Love you mucho too -- and also a lot! Hugs and kisses to the girls. I have found a beautiful book for princesses that I am going to order for them.