January 1

Chinese (Traditional): 決心
Danish: beslutning
Dutch: besluit
French: résolution
German: der Entschluß
Greek: απόφαση
Icelandic: ákvörðun; ásetningur
Italian: decisione
Japanese: 決意
Korean: 결심, 결의
Lithuanian: tvirtas apsisprendimas
Polish: postanowienie
Russian: намерение
Swedish: beslut
Turkish: sıkı karar

In any language . . . it's a resolution. Except that Swedish word, which seems to be implying I should have a lot more sex with random people.

But here we are. The start of a new year. I frankly feel a sign of relief, a surge of energy, a dash of joy. A new beginning. My resolutions are about the areas I feel are vital in my life: my writing, my family, my finances, my volunteerism, my spirituality, my health. So here we go:

1. The biggie. Go back to my modified macrobiotic eating--with a determined resolution. This means no white sugar, no additive, no corn syrup, no diet soda. It means tea, water, whole grains, veggies, and fruit. I've done it before. It's NOT a big deal to me . . . just need to get less lazy about shopping for myself as there's no way the rest of my family is eating as I do. I'll eat fish once in a while. Yogurt. But that's about it. My WAY OF EATING. It's not a diet. I can't do diets. I can't do Weight Watchers. I can't count calories. I don't WANT to. Food is a way to sustain life. It shouldn't be complicated. Eat what is good, think about everything before it goes in the mouth. I'll feel better. And, usually in two months, I'll drop 20-25 pounds. I would like to lose 30 pounds this year . . . again, because it's healthier, and so one will follow the other. Simple. Just takes committing to eating right. Going along with this, I plan on cooking for my kids at least three nights a week--which means hunting for easy, fun, healthy recipes. I've never cooked. EVER. But I am sick of eating the same ONE thing I know how to make. Grilled cheese. And I know they are too. Significant Other isn't quitting his night job. So face reality. COOK. Good food.

2. Either do yoga or walk 4 to 8 miles a day. Or both. Again, walking was my BIG stress reliever. Then my Significant Other took two jobs with weird shifts. This meant I became a single mom, for all intents and purposes. If you read this blog, then you know I have a Demon Baby. Suddenly, exercise went out the proverbial window. Or it may be Demon Baby simply stowed it in the air vents. Either way, I know if I would do this, I would feel better. And more importantly, be less stressed.

3. Learn something new. Now this one, I am not sure about. I am still looking into night classes. I want to either take a foreign language . . . or a class in painting or collage work, or maybe astronomy or physics. I have a FEELING the language one is not going to be what I take. So . . . we'll just see what classes fit into my family life. I am somewhat restricted to a Monday or Tuesday night class. For Demon Baby reasons.

4. Financial goals. I have three . . . they have to do with what's in my savings account, debt, and what I want to make this year.

5. Finish four proposals and one full book (separate from what I'm contracted to do). Write the screenplay lurking in my brain. Enter it in the screenwriting contest I want to enter.

6. Be more organized. This will entail doing something tangible--having a more organized desk, being more vigilant about putting mail/bills/receipts away when I get them; and not going to bed with a messy kitchen. That one's hard, but really, if I wake up and the kitchen and family room are trashed, I have to spend my MOST productive hours (morning) cleaning them. Might as well do that at night when I'm not in the mood to write anyway. It also means making sure I run laundry by six a.m. Yes, this is what a mom of four has to do. Every day.

7. Stop sighing. Yeah . . . this is a new one. Sometime this year, I got so disgusted with my Significant Other that I started sighing because, I have to tell you, he will have a list of resolutions today, and though I will likely be on track with most of mine in June, by January 3rd, his are usually in the dust. By an hour after they are written, they are usually in the dust. He swears this year is going to be different. Either way, it's not just him. It's Demon Baby, three kids, deadlines, and laundry that is taking over my universe. Add other stress into the mix, teachers who annoy me, politicans who . . . well, I don't want to go off on a rant here, but I started SIGHING, which is actually what my DAD does. Have I become my father?!?!?! So I decided that instead of sighing when I am faced with ten loads of laundry (which, if I do number 6 on my list, should not be the case), I will repeat to myself my new mantra. "This is an act of love." I will try not to resent what is simply a fact of raising a large family mostly on my own. I learned to sigh this year. I can unlearn it.

8. No mindless anything. This means no rising and going right to work mindlessly without stopping to pray. No mindless TV ever. No mindless Internet surfing. I don't count visiting my friends' blogs as mindless, but a lot of my Internet surfing is fairly aimless. I do channel surf before bed sometimes, when I should read because it's just healthier for my mind. I am often with Demon Baby and I am not being mindful. Like last night. I was reading The Cat in the Hat Comes Back for the THOUSANDTH time. I act out the voices, I can be quite funny in my reading, but Demon Baby knows when I skip words . . . and the temptation to skip is pretty high given I can say this book in my sleep. But what I ALMOST failed to notice is HIM. You see, when the Cat in the Hat gets a pink spot on Dad's bed and it's not the "right kind of bed," Demon Baby, though he has heard it a thousand times, laughs. Then he looked at me, grinned with his huge dimple, and clapped his hands. He loves it. And it is JUST as funny the thousandth time as the first for him. If I live mindfully all the time, I will SEE the important things in life.

9. Going with number 8, I want to see the world more as Demon Baby sees it. As miraculous, not mundane. I am going to expect miracles. All the time. Every day. And see what the universe deposits on my doorstep. (Hopefully not dog poop.)

10. And finally . . . I have two or three volunteering ideas. I would like to go back to teaching ESL to migrant families for free, or to refugees. Or else start a food pantry for the working poor. I have ideas, I just need to talk to some people and set about being the change I want to see.

So there you go. I would LOVE to hear everyone else's. May you have an inspired, mindful year.