Every Year's Resolution

New Year's resolutions really aren't our thing.  Momma used to make them.  "This year I'm going to lose weight.... I'm going to stop using tawdry language when I get frazzled.... I'm going to be the person you think I am, Mattie." These are the resolutions we, my dadz and me, use to hear from momma nearly every New Year's eve. Dadz resolution was always the same, "I'm going to tell people that I love, 'I love you,' more often.  I think dadz has the right idea. When you think about it, making a New Year's resolution should probably be something attainable and more-to-the-point, sustainable.

About three years ago, around the same time I was diagnosed with renal problems, my family and I decided to no longer make New Year's resolutions. We agreed to simply re-affirm the resolution that we made to each other when we got the lab results from my kidney specialist. So now, every year, we embrace the same commitment to be a little bit kinder to every human, animal and even plant that we encounter; to be more generous with our hearts and allow ourselves to be observant of the good deeds all around us; to listen to our friends and family free of any desire to guide an outcome; and to laugh often,with an open heart, at all the wondrous, joyous surprises the world has to offer.

I think finding a good path, one that is open and honest and caring with those you love... and sometimes even with those that make you a little crazy, like Sam the Beagle in our neighborhood who howls every night at 10PM, is a wonderful, sustainable New Year's resolution. A special little treasure that you can revisit, and then repackage and re-gift to yourself every year; the constant renewable resource of loving oneself and the world.  When you give the gift of kindness to yourself, it's amazing how much kindness you'll find you have for every other creature that you encounter.

With lub and blessings,
MattieDog