Forward March to 2007!

So sadly, we say goodbye to 2006 and open our doors and our lives to a brand new year – 2007. I have never been one to really make New Years resolutions, what I usually do at the end of a year is look back at what I learnt in the past year and see how I can build on it in the next year. That being said, here’s what I learnt in 2006, and what I hope to build on it for 2007.

Take care of you! – Watching a close family member battle and overcome breast cancer taught me to pay closer attention to my health, not the somewhat nonchalant attitude that I have adopted over the years. Health is indeed wealth…so this means watching what I eat…eating healthier, exercising more, taking routine health exams more seriously

Write! Write! Write! I have always known that my twin loves were reading and writing. In 2006, I dove into the lukewarm waters of blogging…possibly writing for myself more than anyone else…I was pleasantly surprised and inspired to see how many other bloggers there are out there…even though I have been a more or less closet writer for over a decade now. 2006 revealed to me that happiness lies in doing what makes you happy and fulfilled and for me writing does both.

VEN Analysis! Although, I have never really considered myself a spendthrift…living in the States can be quite a challenge especially when you start to have kids and there are all sorts of things being marketed for you to buy…and you want to give your kids the best. I remember when I had my daughter last year…I had a long list of things that I thought I needed…looking back, I think the most hilarious was a ‘wipes warmer’ Thank goodness commonsense and pure logic took the better of me and I crossed that off the list as soon as I realized how wacky and unnecessary a wipes warmer was – who needs a contraption to warm wipes…when in doubt use a washcloth with warm water duuhhh. Anyway…this year, I decided that in order to get the better of the marketing gurus who have so well established themselves in every facet of the American life…prior to purchasing anything, I would do a VEN analysis. That is, I would write the list alright but then break it down into Vital, Essential and Non-Essential. You’d be shocked how many things would go under the Non-Essential list.

While, there is so much that life taught me in 2006, like every year, I got to know me a little bit more and it is summed up in this poem/quote Dawna Markova

I will not die an unlived life
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that what came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.