"This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it." So said Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the transendentalist of American thought. This applies doubly so to New Year's Eve and the actual day.
In America and in many other countries, the new year is hearalded with singing, drinking, eating, friends and family. Many have fireworks or visual displays, dancing and engagment in community. All of these things seemed focused on the transition of time itself, not our response to it.
Perhaps we might want to consider a different approach to the New Year. Not as a gross celebration of the past or a "resolution" about the future (particularly after that nasty hangover), but rather as an indicator and sample of what you are going to be doing all year long. This could include what is coming your way, that you want. You may want to be sure to:
- Have some money in your pocket, hard cash. If this sets the tone for the whole year, wouldn't a few extra bills in your pocket feel good?
- Get outside and enjoy our enviornment - it is the one we are blessed with and should enjoy. Here in Seal Beach we are so fortunate to have extrodinary weather, nearby beach and our delightful pier.
- Do a little bit of work, after all, you likely have a small project, a quick email or review of something that might make your day back to work a little easier. It also confirms your competency in what you do.
- Engage in a least a few minutes of your favorite leisure activity. Again, this sets you up to do it at least some in the coming year.
- Exercise. You may as well move your body if it will begin the training and pattern for the whole year that you will simply move a bit more.
- Stay out of your car. Don't you spend enough time in it already?
- Be with people you love and be generous with sharing and demonstrating with them in whatever way most appropriate you love them.
- Play a little - with your children, friend and family children. They too are experts on play and seeing the world. They remind us to be kind in a way few other things can.
- Take some time in solitary thinking to really clear your mind. Then write down some objectives, goals or thoughts for where you are going to go in the coming year. Share this list with someone, anyone, so you know they are real and accountable to you and at least one other person.
- Engage in a random act of kindness to a stranger.
- Tune out or out of the social media destractions of the world - just for a day.
- Connect with someone you have been meaning to call for a long time, but never seem to find time to do it.
- Be conciously grateful for what you have and acknowledge to your God or inner voice abiding thankfulness.
- Share a meal with at least one person. People fill our lives and that too is as it should be.
I know that this is the plan I will use on New Year's eve and throughout the day. Carl Sandberg, another noted thought leader concluded by saying, "Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you." How do you plan to spend it, for it is one of the 365 you have for all of 2013? Happy New Year!
