It has been quite a while since I had a chance to sit down at my computer and write! December was filled with wonderful friends and family, and I enjoyed every minute of it! I have come to believe that you have to strike when you have the opportunity, and the holidays are a great time to reunite with people. Many other things had to go by the wayside, but I have memories to cherish and stronger relationships as a result. Good ending to a good year!
Now we get to those dreaded New Year’s Resolutions! I find that anything that I plan for an entire year gets my focus for a month and then just fades away, so I think that I will take a different approach this year.
I am going to have New Month Resolutions. I am going to try something for a month, and see if it sticks. If it works, I’ll keep doing it. If it can be tweaked, I’ll adjust. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just stop doing it. But the goal is to keep it up for a month. With all the crazy diet plans my family has talked me into, I now know that I can do anything for a month!
For January, I am going to work on starting my day right. I just listened to a podcast about the first five things to do in the morning to win the day, and I was surprised to find that “Make your bed” was #1. Really? I always make my bed. So that would be cheating to put that on my resolutions list. I’ll make it more challenging – and try 30 days of these five day-starters:
1. Quiet time. Spend at least 30 minutes in prayer and Bible reading. This gets the day going in a positive direction, so I don’t know why it is so hard to do. It puts everything in perspective. (I started out my Read-the-Bible-in-a-Year plan in 2014. I have about 5 months worth left, so this will be on my resolution list for 5 months!)
2. Review my To-Do List while I drink my morning tea. I list the five most important things to do that day. As the day goes on, I check them off. If they don’t get done today, they go to the top of tomorrow’s list. It is amazing how many really important things get lost in the shuffle when you don’t write them down!
3. Journal for 10 minutes a day. You don’t know where you are until you can see where you have been. I come across things I wrote years ago, and it gives me great hope to see progress in my ideas and accomplishments. Journaling serves two purposes – gives focus today, and will give perspective tomorrow.
4. Exercise. This is one of those things that always sounds like a chore, but always makes me feel good after I have done it. If you can, walk with a friend. I don’t want to disappoint my Walking Buddy, so it makes me think twice before canceling, and I have much more fun than walking alone. I am also going to sign up for a class at the gym in January.
5. In the spirit of gratitude for my many blessings, I will choose a person each day to pray for and to contact (email, text, phone call, note) to express my love and gratitude. This is a good time to share our joy – spread it around wherever you can! The beauty of expressing gratitude is that it builds up joy on both ends of the conversation!
Today, I’ll tell you that I am praying for you as a group – the people who read my blog. I love writing, and I appreciate the fact that you actually take the time to read my musings. I am grateful to be a part of the conversation, and hope that 2017 is a year of many blessings for us all!
Blessings,
Barb
4. Exercise. This is one of those things that always sounds like a chore, but always makes me feel good after I have done it. If you can, walk with a friend. I don’t want to disappoint my Walking Buddy, so it makes me think twice before canceling, and I have much more fun than walking alone. I am also going to sign up for a class at the gym in January.
5. In the spirit of gratitude for my many blessings, I will choose a person each day to pray for and to contact (email, text, phone call, note) to express my love and gratitude. This is a good time to share our joy – spread it around wherever you can! The beauty of expressing gratitude is that it builds up joy on both ends of the conversation!
Today, I’ll tell you that I am praying for you as a group – the people who read my blog. I love writing, and I appreciate the fact that you actually take the time to read my musings. I am grateful to be a part of the conversation, and hope that 2017 is a year of many blessings for us all!
Blessings,
Barb
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