New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.
~ Mark Twain

In life’s small things be resolute and great
To keep thy muscle trained: knowst thou when Fate
Thy measure takes, or when she’ll say to thee,
“I find thee worthy; do this deed for me?”
~ James Russell Lowell, Epigram

Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.
~ Oscar Wilde

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.
~ Benjamin Franklin

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson

I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.
~ Anaïs Nin

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~ T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”

Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.
~ Thomas Mann

But can one still make resolutions when one is over forty? I live according to twenty-year-old habits.
~ Andre Gide

Still, I do have one resolution. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and Rosei’s post gave me the occasion to put it into words:

I’m resolving to bring more energy and positivity into my life. My natural tendency is to be somewhat critical and melancholy. I’m comfortable with that. However, in the last year or two I have noticed that the anger level is rising, and I’m not comfortable with that. I don’t know how to deal with it, and it wears me down. It’s also pretty useless, since most of the things that anger me are beyond my control to change (except in very small ways…).

I used to be able to bring energy and comfort in with prayer, but that doesn’t really work for me anymore. So I’m adding some affirming messages to my daily meditations – with themes of gratitude, awareness and mindfulness, cosmic connection, energy, self-acceptance, etc. It’s a little Stuart Smalley, but that’s…. o-kay. It’s only a very modest kind of resolution, but it’s one I may be able to keep, unlike a few others that come to mind (smile).

You may not realize it, but it’s 100% true.

1. There are at least two people in this world that you would die for.
2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.
3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.
4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don’t like you.
5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.
6. You mean the world to someone.
7. You are special and unique.
8. Someone that you don’t even know exists loves you.
9. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.
10. When you think the world has turned its back on you take another look.
11. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.

And always remember….when life hands you Lemons, ask for tequila and salt and call me over!

Well, if 50% of it is true, that’s still pretty good. Thanks for sending, Barbara.

This reminds me of a song from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Something about being special and unique. It used to make me cry when I was little. Yes, here it is. You can listen to it too.

You’re Special – Fred Rogers

You are my friend
You are special
You are my friend
You’re special to me.
You are the only one like you.
Like you, my friend, I like you.

In the daytime
In the nighttime
Any time that you feel’s the right time
For a friendship with me, you see
F-R-I-E-N-D special
You are my friend
You’re special to me.
There’s only one in this wonderful world
You are special.

Almost makes me want to watch the show. Maybe we should have an adult version of something like this. A nice man sings to us once a day, just to say we’re special and unique. Then he uses puppets to model how to navigate emotions and problems and conflicts while respecting and caring for yourself and others. I’d watch it.

Maybe we could get the key members of the Bush administration to watch it…

and that thought effectively concludes today’s positive moment.