What You Do is What You'll Be Doing

I'm not sure if it was my grandmother or some other sage of my early years that used to say, "Be careful what you do on the first day of the year.  You will most likely end up doing a lot of it in the year ahead."   I remember taking that very seriously at one time.  I'd be careful not to do things like clean house, laundry, and other intangible things like grousing, complaining and saying yes when I want to say no.  Funny how I seem to have forgotten what might seem to be superstition, but nonetheless, rang true.   

Most New Year's Days I get up and fix a nice breakfast for myself and my animal companions.  Together we watch the Rose Parade on Channel 5 uninterrupted by commercials and narrated by local Rose Parade legends Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards.  It wouldn't be the same without them at the helm.  One year they tried to change it up, putting Stephanie out of the main booth and down on the street.  That was the year it rained on the parade.  2006.  The last time it had rained on the parade was 1955.  Poor Stephanie looked pitiful, her hair wet, mascara running.  There was such an outpouring of outrage over her treatment, the next year she was back with old Bob where she belonged.  Don't mess with tradition.

But I digress.  As I was saying, after a nice breakfast and the parade, I take the dogs for a nice long walk and then set my intentions for the rest of the day...maybe the rest of the year.  No, I don't make resolutions, I just kind of evaluate what's been working and what hasn't and prepare to make adjustments.

So even though today I did tidy up after a little party last night, I didn't over do it.  Just enough to feel comfortable in my little part of the world.  And I do.   Feel comforable, that is.  Comfortable enough that I am sitting here, writing a blog, the first since last September (!) and setting my intention to do it regularly in the new year.  It is, I am reminded, a matter of priorities: mine versus others.  And the priorites of others are not always mine.  I need to remember that.  Saying yes when I want to say no.  No.  Resoundingly and emphanitcally, NO, without regret or guilt.  That is just being honest, being true and doing what I want to be doing all year.  Doing, in fact, what I feel called to do  the rest of my days.

So there it is, folks.  It is time.  The blog is back. Time to pick up the journey once again.  The journey begins with the first step, the decision to go forward and see what's next.  This is it. Here is a quote I find is attributed to many sources*, but, nonetheless, is I believe to be true:  "Life is not a dress rehearsal."  Carl Rogers said,  "The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination."

Let's make it a happy New Year.  Let's process and find our direction. That is my intention for 2015.

*http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/06/01/life-rehearsal/

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