Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> On another homestead list, a thread came up about New Year's
> Resolutions, and I thought it might be fun to do it here, too.
> Here's my list:

Bev, I become exhausted merely reading your to-do list, let alone  
your accomplishments.

You Vikings may or may not recognize the god Janus, whose two faces,  
so said the Romans, allowed him to look both backward and forward.  
Hence resolutions. The Romans had some corny ideas about resolutions  
at the beginning of their new years, which each year's calendar was  
in fact begun by their double-faced god. Their resolutions are  
strange by modern standards, such as seeking forgiveness from prior  
enemies. Such an ancient enterprise, how could we ever resolve such a  
thought to modern life?

Here we are at another opportunity juncture, with the ability to look  
both backwards and forwards. We can't change what we did last year  
but we are hopeful that we can do better this year. And next year we  
will do it all over again.

As I enter the second year of my eighth decade I find myself more  
cautious about goals, more careful about making big plans. Having  
paid the painful prices of pneumonia, sciatica and shingles it has  
become clear to me that I need to relax more and go with the natural  
flow. Setting and fulfilling big goals is sensible for those for whom  
big goals provide necessary nourishment. I used to be there. Today my  
psyche is most serene with more modest goals and smaller  
accomplishments than I have sought in the past. I tease myself that I  
am getting smarter.

So my resolution for the coming year is to become more patient, more  
content with what is, paying more attention to the enveloping beauty  
of Heartwood and surrounding area, smelling flowers more deeply and  
letting fragrance seep deeper into my soul, and bye and bye more  
successfully finding those Zen moments and making sufficiency of them.