My New Year's Resolutions

I resolve not to hold grudges.

So I resolve to kiss more.

I resolve to dance in my underwear more. And to call it exercise.

I resolve to know more of my neighbors by name, and not just by the nicknames I give them based on their (sometimes very strange) behavior.

I resolve to throw more parties, on thinner excuses, like finding a lost sock or it being Sunday afternoon and I kinda like Sunday afternoons.

I resolve to stop letting people pressure me into assigning a commanly known label to my faith. "So you're what? Christian? Jew? Baptist? Why do you go to Mass on Christmas?"
My faith is simple, and I've never met anyone that didn't understand it once I explained it, but most feel compelled to then catagorize it.
"So you're what? Christian? Jew? ect..............."
Yes.
I'd like to stop defining myself by who's doctrine I've choosen to wrap myself in. Because many of them believe what I believe, they just believe so much more on top of it.
Instead of what I've seen so much of, people with so many beliefs that they don't have enough sincerity to cover them all, I'd like to stick to the few things I know to be true and let it grow from that, instead of rammed down my throat by someone so concerned with little, legalistic stuff.
One day I might even find that I now neatly fit into one of those faiths. But the difference in the way you learn it makes a difference in the way you teach it, and I think that difference is important.

I resolve to drink more coffee and tea. Not more in the mornings at work, but in my leisure time with friends, to take more moments to slow down and drink in.

I resolve not to put off anything until I lose weight. A healthy body and mind won't come from deprivation.

I resolve to listen to more music sung in different languages.

I resolve to see my doctor more often, and not let small nagging pains become large ones. Once there, I resolve to be her fussiest patient, getting the most out of our time. I think she'll like me for it, and I like her for THAT.

I resolve to stop apoligizing for what I need, and to be more in touch with what my needs are.

I resolve not to be angry at people for not meeting needs that I haven't expressed.

I resolve to stop feeling guilty for having a cluttered car. Lots of truly lovely people have messy cars. Lots of unhappy people feel pressure and guilt.

I resolve to drink more peppermint tea.

I resolve that 50% of the time when a friend invites me out, and I'm tired, to go anyway.

I resolve that 90% of the time when someone offers me a new volunteer opportunity, to say no, and to just maybe give a little extra effort to the ones I'm involved in.

I resolve to listen less, and to be less of a people pleaser.

I resolve to talk more, and with more truth. To strangers, to friends, to myself in the mirror.

I resolve to plant more flowers, in unexpected places.

I resolve to pick wild chamomile when I find it, and to go more places that I'm likely to find it.

I resolve to comment more.

I resolve to compliment more.

I resolve to be more informed, but with fewer opinions.

I resolve to clutter my desk with more photos, and fewer deli menus.

I resolve to overpay children at lemonade stands.

I resolve to make eye contact with anyone that waits on me in a resturant, or rings up my purchases.

I resolve to forgive myself more easily.

I resolve to remember that forgiving someone doesn't mean not telling them when they're out of line.

I resolve to mark up my books with my own thoughts.

I resolve to do whatever necessary to keep from getting angry at other drivers on my daily commute. If sanity means a new cd each week, so be it.

I resolve to find a use for most of the relationship books people have given me. I'm inherently nondestructive, but the advice contained in most of them ranges between dangerous and pointless, and no good will come of passing them along. I will use them for lighting fires, scratch paper, sketches, paintings, pressing flowers, you know, the kind of things that are actually useful.

I resolve to put no price on sanity, friendship and love. If this means my finances never become "tidy" or "in order" so be it.

I resolve to remember to have no emotional connection to my money, be it coming or going.

I resolve to play music louder when I'm alone.

I resolve to roll my car windows down more.

I resolve to take more pictures, and to worry about the quality of the camera or the shot less.

I resolve to not buy an uncomfortable pair of shoes all year.

I resolve to call one friend before putting in a video, and if I never get around the video, no loss.

I resolve to remember that while it's always possible to live cheaper, work harder and be busier, there is no guarantee that this will make me richer, more sucessful or more important. And this is rarely the point anyway.