Last night at our New Year’s Eve party, I was told to challenge myself this coming year… to do something scary… outside my comfort zone. “That’s how we grow”, se said. I nodded. I’ve heard it before. Right at eye level, on the wall next to my computer, is a quote I put there that says, “It is by non attachment that we grow”. Why not? It’s as good a time as any. Let go of the comfortable.

So here’s what I have chosen to do. For this coming year I will attempt to live my life each day in the here and now and consciously try to “make it better”. How bad can that be? Here’s what happened today.

I made it better. I cleaned up the mess from the party… paper plates, plastic glasses… wiped the dining room table. I remove the leaves I had put in for the party… put the chairs back… fill the dishwasher… hand wash the platters… and try to clean out the drain board… but fail. The cabinet is too full to fit the kids’ drinking glasses. So I pull out a bunch of jars I used to use for storage and put them in a pile to give to a friend who does canning which gives me the extra space to fit the kids’ drinking glasses. I can now clean out the drain board. I wipe the counter… ever better.

And while my body is on auto-pilot making the immediate world around me ever better, I am thinking about how I can fulfill my role in the bigger world and use my talents, skills, and abilities for the good of all. I think about my experiences, my studies, my writing, and how to share them with others. They could not have been just for me alone. And meanwhile the house is getting cleaner. I’ve switched an empty tissue box, and poured water in the basil plant, given Sasha a kitty treat.

I decide to keep a journal of what I’ve done each day, to chronicle my attempts to live as I know I should. When the neighbors who couldn’t make it last night come over to help us eat up the left overs, I tell them of my plan to do a daily post. I know if I put it out there, it will help me to do it. That’s what I’m doing now, in fact, the first of 366 entries onto this blog. We’ll see how long I can keep it up, what connects, what compounds, where will my life be on the next January 1st?

peace…………ag

ps. Amazing, isn’t it. I posted this at 11:04pm on Jan 1, but the server must be in another time zone and it posted on Jan 2. May this be the worst that happens.

pps. Even more amazing.  My techie friend, Tom, figured out how to change the date on this post after the fact.  Ever better.