2013

I am usually not one to bash a year and swell with excitement at the thought of a new one---after all, the calendar year is not the only measure of a year---but this year I feel a little differently. From January of last year, 2012 was a bit more difficult than most. I am starting 2013 with a view towards utilizing the lessons learned from those tribulations. Last night we ate early, and slept early, and this morning, after a good night's sleep, we woke at 6 a.m. ready to start the year. 

This morning it was cold and cloudy. I went for a walk around the pond on our property to gather my thoughts and make some resolutions. To think back on what disappoints me in my life, and to focus on some ways I can make changes to be a more fulfilled person. When I was younger the idea of being a better me was always so abstract and not really a tangible possibility. In the past six years I've changed so much, that I realize it is very possible. And I've learned that if you are dreaming of an impossible new you, then you have to rethink some things.

In food/blogging news, I'm starting off the year with another (processed) sugar-free January with Rebecca of Cakewalk. I am including honey, maple syrup and dried fruit. Some may say that's not really cutting out sugar. Well, I say kudos to you who can cut out all sugar. I am not there yet! I'm also decreeing more vegetables, and more water. And, I'm joining Cook the Books with Grow and Resist and Oh Briggsy, just to broaden my cooking horizons a little.

And here are three tenets to begin my new year, that encompass a broad swath. They should be rules for a life, and not just a year, I know, but everybody has to start somewhere. There are so many more detailed things that were running through my mind as I crunched through the ice pack, but I wanted to distill them not only for you, dear reader, but for myself.

And here they are, boiled down:

1. To be more thoughtful. That is, to be smarter, to think more clearly, more thoughtfully, in all ways: emotionally, intellectually, financially, etc.

2. To accept more challenges in life. That means to do something new, something that requires new muscles to be moved, to go to new places, to be kind to myself and others, to not be angry, to not worry, to not be concerned so much with what others think of me. These are all challenges for me!

3. To be more accepting. To not give up hope. And to know when I must let go and move on. To be both gentler and steadfast.

What are you meditating on this year? Whatever it may be, I wish you the best in the new year!