Early on January 1, I sat beside my Christmas Book Tree with a good cup of coffee and my seldom used journal. For many hours and pages my consciousness streamed with gratitude, peace and optimism, out of which -- damnit! -- resolutions arose. Far too many. I knew as I wrote them that I'd need a spreadsheet to keep them straight, and worse, that I'd create one. (I did.) A week later, I wondered if I should have set intentions instead, for human-being instead of human-doing. Two weeks later, I longed for mini-goals, so easy to achieve (floss one tooth daily!) that you can't help exceeding them (lowers and uppers too!). Now, 24 days into 2017, I'm relaxing my white-knuckled grip on the new year's steering wheel. I'm pondering "Advice from some Old People". I'm setting an intention to be kind (my favorite thing to be). Daily, I'm going to ask the question Martin Luther King, Jr. called life's most urgent one: What am I doing for others? And I'm going to remind myself that each day is another first serve, as in tennis, and another opportunity, as Buddha taught us, to be born again and do what matters most.
