Subject: Re: [Homestead] Homestead Resolutions for 2007
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 22:34:03 -0700
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.