New Year's Day

New Year's Day is one of my favorite days. When I was younger, staying up late, playing games with family and friends, eating good food, those are some highlights. I recall some drawn out Risk games to pass the time. Once we had kids, it was fun staying up and enjoying the specialness of the night with them. Although, I'd be lying if there weren't a couple years where we moved the clocks ahead an hour! Parents sometimes do what they have to! Getting up early on a day when most people are still sleeping, or perhaps just going to bed, I count as one of the simple pleasures of life. With our roughly four inches of a wet snow last night, our yard was simply gorgeous this morning. The quiet of the pre-dawn earth was breathtakingly wonderful to behold! With no traffic on the road in front of the house, I was able to drink in the stillness and bask in the quiet that only a fresh snowfall can provide. Other than the sound of an occasional bird, all I heard was my breathing or footsteps crunching in the snow.

To the deer, rabbit and feral cat tracks, I added my own human tracks. The animals seem to tread lightly on the earth and there is beauty in the steps they leave behind. My own snow boots, as they trudge through the snow, seem to disturb the pristine beauty of a new-fallen snow. I am reminded of one of my favorite movies, Koyaanisqatsi. The name is a Hopi word for, "life out of balance." We humans are close to destroying our planet. We need to learn from each other, from the ways of indigenous people, and from the animals.

In the sky, I saw the crescent moon with Venus along side. For me, there is nothing that helps me feel grounded, that assists my purposeful walking, than seeing heavenly bodies shining down from afar. I reflect on my smallness on this planet; I feel a sense of place. And just when I start to feel that I can have no impact or that I don't matter in the greater scheme of things, I am reminded of Gandhi's words: "Whatever you do will be insignificant but it is very important that you do it."

MXLLS

I passed my garden, now protected with frozen water, insulated from the cold, awaiting spring temperatures to provide a slow drip into the ground water. As I prepare to order seeds for this year's gardens, I enjoy the fallowness of the land.

As a reflective person, I make resolutions. Usually they have to do with diet and exercise. I admit to having some goals in those areas and I am in need of some drastic changes into what I ingest and how I stay fit. My life is out of balance and I need to restore it. About a week ago, I turned another year older. Birthdays, for me, are always rather sobering and a reminder that my days and years are numbered. I don't have as much time as I'd like to learn to be my best self. Here are my broader goals for 2019:

• More understanding and less judgment

• More sustainability and less wastefulness

• More second person and less first person

• More minimalism and less stuff

• More writing and less simply thinking

• More outside and less inside

• More solutions and less complaints

• More balance and less extreme

• More tea and less coffee

• More listening and less talking

• More biking and less driving

• More appreciation and less taking for granted

• More leisure and less work

The trick for me will be adhering to these goals. I tape mantras up around my house, near my mirror, on my computer, and other places I happen to look. My plan is to write this out and post it so I am continually reminded of the expectations that I have for

myself.