WELCOME 2019!

A new month  and 365 new days (actually 360 since it is January 5) to create our legacy for 2019. What will it be? How will we accomplish it? How will we spend these 360 days? The new year is a new book, with many new chapters, some chapters revisited, and it has 360 blank pages to write your own story. How will it read?

To start the conversation, I will share what our parish priest talked about last week: wishes versus resolutions.  Our wishes are repeated musings about what we would like to have or be. Whereas, resolutions are things that get beyond the wish level because we commit to ‘do’ in order to create and accomplish. We committ…that is the key.

In my reading, I found that several writers aspire to the idea that rather than making resolutions, you chose one word that is your focus for the year. A second idea was to write one thank you note to someone each week of the year, building a habit of gratitude. Another idea was to write on a small piece of paper the date and one thing that you enjoyed that day. Put them in a jar and on New Year’s Eve of 2019 read them, one by one, savoring all the JOY that you experienced in the year. (I love this idea and am doing it).

Another author, one of my favorites Matthew Kelly of Dynamic Catholic, wrote about our ability to reflect, reminisce and perhaps have regrets about the past, but in the past space you cannot HOPE. It is not available! It is in our future, in our heart, that HOPE lives. I guess that is what resolutions or one word mantras for the year are all about…..yes HOPE that new beginnings in different areas of our lives will come our way. Without HOPE, we will remain stuck in the past, unable to dream, commit and do the future.

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all”  wrote Emily Dickinson.

What is your HOPE for 2019 and what are the steps you will take to make it real?

PJP