Take a wild guess what will be in this New Year’s Day Post

That’s right. I am going to take a moment to post some resolutions.

Wait! Stop rolling your eyes. I believe it is important to live with intention (and, of course, action on said intention), so why not embrace this moment of resolution obsession? Yes, most people let go of their resolutions a few weeks into the year… so this year I am intentionally making ones that are do-able for me.

To be honest, most of them are already resolutions I’ve made weeks or months ago… this is just a public re-affirmation of them. I can honestly say that I am very happy with life as it is — no drastic changes are needed. A few days ago I was doing some holiday season reminiscing, and realized that for the past handful of years things have been getting progressively better in my tiny dust speck of the universe. I am not religious, but for some reason the word “blessed” keeps popping into my head. I feel very blessed.

I think I could sum up the theme of my resolutions with a (paraphrased) quote from the Buddha that one of my yoga friends mentioned last week: fill yourself so full of love that it seems like space.

So, without further ado, here are some intentions I am setting for myself as earth sets out on yet another merry-go-round ride around the sun:

1.) Respect my body — the memory of all I have put it through, the speculation of what I need it to do for me in the decades to come, and (most importantly), the present moment. I will do this by being mindful of what I put into it, and being consistent with providing for the energy output it craves (i.e. exercise, playfulness, challenge, cuddling).

2.) Strengthen the financial security of my life and my relationship. You know all of those self-help authors you always see interviewed on touchy-feely morning news shows who talk about how people have different ways of communicating and different kinds of basic needs? Well, I suppose there is some truth to what they say. For the past year that we’ve tried to come up with a way of managing money that works for both of us; it has at times been frustrating, embarrassing, and humbling for me (and probably aggravating as all heck for him — I am amazed at his patience, and thankful for his firmness). However, when I look back on it, I think the work we have put into finding a reasonable happy medium in our spending styles has strengthened our communication skills and our knowledge of each other’s goals, outlooks, and needs. In 2009 I will continue to work hard and consistently at implementing the plan we developed, and will enjoy the benefit of a partner who feels more at peace with that part of our shared life (and, of course, the little fringe benefit of having less debt).

3.) Honor my family. Imperfect though our relations may be, I love my mother, father, and sister. They are Where I Am From. I recognize that I cannot make them get along, but I will continue to show love to them and will resist the temptation to use avoidance as defense. I will also be more assertively involved in my niece’s life, and not use strained relations with my sister as an excuse for not seeing her as much as I should.

4.) Read a dozen books for pleasure. Pleasure is a tough thing to assign a number to, but I say a dozen because I want to challenge myself. I laugh that people on LibraryThing.com do 50- and even 75-book challenges yearly, and here I am trying to make it to a dozen. I tend to read lots of magazines, news, and literature that I teach — I want to be certain that I read for reasons other than just professional ones and world citizenship ones. I think a dozen is realistic.

5.) Finish crafty projects that I start. Seriously. I currently have three quilts, two cross stitch things, a few crocheted blankets, and god knows what else that I can’t even think of right now. And I WILL discipline myself to learn how to knit, dammit.

6.) Explore my city. There are so many museums, parks, restaurants, and oddities that I have never been to or have not been to in years. I need to take advantage of these things… I should try to come up with new reasons Cleveland is a good place (other than “Hey, at least it’s not Scranton!”)

I could generate a few more, but am going to stop there. If I come up with too many, I will obviously be less likely to follow them. So there you have it — my intentions for 2009. If you know me in “real” life, please feel free to call me out if you observe me abandoning them.

I have so much hope that this will be a good year for the world, and will not let my general cynicism and skepticism creep into this post. I am feeling very hopeful and will leave it at that.