Dootsie

I’ve never been one for resolutions.  Sometimes, I made them when forced for a class assignment or scrawled my intent to date a cute boy in my journal.  I treated the tradition with equal amounts of disdain and annoyance.  Why lie to yourselves?  Why buy into the notion that we should reinvent ourselves every 365.25 days?  Why bother?

I rang in 2015 surrounded by friends with a smile on my face.  I have friends who are a couple who host the most wonderful, soul-warming holiday parties. As the clock hit midnight and we raised our Solo cups of champagne, I realized I was having tons of fun.  And I wanted more.  I wanted my year to be filled with lots of evenings like this–maybe less booze, but definitely all the smiles.  And yeah, I wanted to get more accomplished in the coming year.  And yeah, I wanted to feel great this year, too!

And that’s when I realized that I might be more into New Year’s resolutions that I thought.  I wanted more, so that’s what I’m aiming for!

My rules for the Year of More:

1. All goals must be non-specific – I want to make my life happier.  Everything I do that accomplishes that is a victory.  Everyone who ever failed to make it to the top of the mountain still set foot on the darn thing, and that’s a win!  So I’m focusing on general, flexible concepts rather than specific, set items on a to-do list.
2. Everything must be able to be accomplished randomly and often – I don’t want to tick and item off and move on.  I want the Year of More to mean more good in every day, week or month.
3. It must be YAY! – If it’s not fun or spiritually nourishing, I don’t want any part of it.

So anyway, here’s “Wonderwall”:

• MORE SOCIAL – I definitely want this year to be more social.  And I want it to be fewer social interactions that I just kinda fall into (which is my default mode.)  I’d like to maybe plan a get-together for my birthday!
• MORE MAGIC – So I do a little palmistry, dowsing and tarot card reading.  I don’t have a natural talent for it, but I enjoy learning about it.  I’d like to hone my knowledge a bit more.  And maybe learn a really cool card trick on a regular deck.
• MORE SPIRITUALITY – I keep my spiritual side pretty close to my chest.  I’m private about it because it can be an awkward sticking point.  But I’m interested in being a little more open about it and generally connecting more with that side of myself.
• MORE COOKING – My boyfriend is a great cook who loves dabbling around in the kitchen, and I’m happy to stand back and let him do it.  Anyway, our kitchen is too cramped for me to enjoy being in there.  But he mighta just told me that I can’t cook, and that’s a damn, dirty lie.  I’m a decent cook, but I’m not a natural cook–I can follow a recipe like nobody’s business, and that’s enough for me.  I’d like to cook at least a few more things this year, and maybe tackle some of the bizarre recipes from my grandmother’s church cookbook.
• MORE EMPATHY – I’m trying to police my own language better, and I’m trying to be so much more mindful of others’ feelings.
• MORE ART – I love making!  I don’t make enough stuff!  I’d like to write more, do a few art projects and maybe weave a lil’ bit.
• MORE LAUNDRY – I need to get better at keeping a tidy house.  In order to accomplish pretty much all of these things, I gotta be a little more proactive about cleaning–and a lot of the mess is laundry because I just hate doing it so darn much.  But it will lead to YAY! so I gotta get it done.

So how about you?  What do you want more of in 2015?