2nd month of 2010

The first month of 2010 has come and gone, and what have we learned? 

Any new insights? Lessons? 

I can say that I lived the first month of 2010 the exact way that I lived just about every other month of 2009, working.  This is something I am trying remedy.  Not remedy like finding a cure for an illness, but strive to find that work life balance that has eluded me for the last few years.

I was reading through one of my favorite websites and came across an article by a Dr. Frank Lipman. He was writing what he thought are 20 great new years resolutions for 2010.  Before I saw his list, I started to think, “Yeah, another “guru” trying to tell me how to live my life for 2010 and what I should or should not be doing, and I’m sure there is something in the list about losing weight, going to the gym, running that marathon or all the typical new years resolutions you always read.” Well, I’m happy to report I was pleasantly surprised. I found a list that included the basics, but also included those outlier type of thoughts that we may have every once in awhile, but rarely write down or follow through. 

The beauty of this list, lies within it’s intrinsic simplicity.

20 New Year Resolutions

1. More Real Food, Less "Food-like Substances",
2. More Fruit and Vegetables, Less Sugar, Wheat and Corn
3. More Organic, Less Toxic
4. More Chewing, Less Eating
5. More Water, Less Soda
6. More Recycling, Less Waste
7. More Walking, Less Driving
8. More Exercising, Less Watching TV
9. More Outdoors, Less Indoors
10. More Sleep, Less Worry
11. More Calm, Less Chaos
12. More Being, Less Doing
13. More Consciousness, Less Ignorance
14. More Smiles, Less Anger
15. More Love, Less Hatred
16. More Play, Less Serious
17. More Letting Go, Less Holding On
18. More Forgiving, Less Blaming
19. More Generosity, Less Greed
20. More Ubuntu, Less Me!

Ubuntu means what makes us human is the humanity we show each other. It is a Xhosa (South African) word and philosophy emphasizing community, sharing and generosity. (Resolution list compiled by Dr. Frank Lipman)

So you’ve read the list. You’ve nodded your head yes, and done the “oh”, and the inevitable, “uh, huh..yeah right...” Well what are you going to do about this list? Did you make your own? Are you the type that refuses? Why?

Maybe it’s time to adopt at least one item from this list and try to incorporate it into your life. Why not? What do you have to lose? One of the biggest problems with resolutions or any goal is that we try to do everything at once, rather than taking it slow. Slow and steady wins the race. I know for a fact, that if I was to say, “No more sugar whatsoever for the rest of 2010!”..I would have a mental breakdown and would be found picking the lock of my local chocolate shop trying to get my “fix.” Instead, I choose to say, less sugar and more water.  Now don’t get me wrong, I indulge myself every now and then but I also know my threshold and limits. I know what I’m capable of and what I can achieve. So I take it slow and eventually hope to be sugar free by the end of 2010 or maybe even 2011 heck..maybe I should make it an even 2012 since the world is ending anyways right? 

So the second month of 2010 is about to begin. What are your plans?