revisiting resolutions

it amazes me how a number like 2009 can elicit such an energy in people...energy to change, to resolve to do better or start or stop or at least pause to notice the world happening around them.  what an ingenious idea.  with the flip of a calendar year, we resolve to make changes in and for ourselves.  and so what if we can really make the changes whenever we want, regardless of a brightly lit ball dropping in times square.  there is something almost romantic about saying that we are going to wipe the slate clean and start over with a new year...it is such an inspiring time, so full of hope of what is unknown and yet to come.  

i suppose for me, i try to see most days as a chance for change.  an opportunity to reflect on the previous day and think about what i need or want to change.  deep thoughts like this can easily leave anyone's head spinning, i surely feel that way most days.

and so here i sit, pondering, remembering, contemplating.  in my best friend's house as her sweet little 10 week old puppy is asleep under the kitchen counter/breakfast bar.  it's easy to think in quiet, well decorated houses.  and i think about this city i left 4 months ago, about the life, people and places i left behind in an effort to make my own resolution to be happy, to seek out what i needed to be a whole person.  some people might think that i couldn't handle being a grown up and having a real job in the "real world".  but in fact, that isn't so.  i made a choice to change something that was not right for me.  and shouldn't that be a resolution for everyone...to help bring more happiness into the world?  i think so.  i think it's a marvelous idea and something that we could all aspire to.

as i was watching elmwood avenue pass me by last night, from the car window, i was seeing changes in the city i left behind.  i stopped by the little store where i worked for two and a half years and immediately felt the emotions of that wonderful place wash over me.  i miss the people and places that i have left as a result of my departure, but i have amazing opportunities swarming around me and only because of the people and places in my past and the love and support and challenges they have given me.

i cannot say that i have a list of resolutions for myself that are any different than what i think about on a daily basis.  i have my ever-growing to do list of tasks as well as personal goals i need to work towards.  but i think that regina brett, a columnist for the cleveland plain dealer newspaper summed it up best at the end of her most recent new year's column:

"Welcome 2009 with open arms, every single morning it arrives, all 365 days of the year."

and that's my goal as I prepare to leave my winter break behind, as well as the city that i called home for 10 lovely years.  the most i can do is keep my prayer basket close, write in my gratitude journal and say thank you for each day as it arrives with the opportunity for me to do what i can in that day and then move forward to the next with the previous days' lessons to guide me.

cheers to a new year full of new hopes and dreams and happiness!

Quotes of the Day:

"Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty—they merely move it from their faces into their hearts." -Martin Buxbaum

"To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly." -Henri Bergson