Happy New Year

I am just as guilty as anyone in creating New Year’s resolutions. I rarely remember them after a time so I am not even sure whether I have been successful. The nature of my resolutions are usually about doing things better or more faithfully: eating well, ala losing weight, exercise more, remembering birthdays, organizing something.

Someone sent me a quote yesterday that I think would be a good resolution:

“There is one job that we can do superlatively well, and there isn’t anything that can keep us from doing it if we are serious in wanting to. That is the job we do on ourselves, inside ourselves. It means cleaning out a whole mess of false values, unrealistic ambitions, and worn-out resentments, and putting in their place the qualities we want to have – kindness, tolerance, friendliness…We can begin to see what the real values of life are and they are very different from the hazy, distorted dreams we had.”

I like this resolution because it is a possible one to achieve. It doesn’t say we need to be perfect, only better. And here is the best part – most of us are already doing it.  We call it growing and learning with life as our teacher. Two good tools to have in your pocket are humility and honesty. The rest will take care of itself.