I ‘borrowed’ my New Year’s Resolutions. The inestimable Pema Chodron wrote them up, in her book ‘The Places That Scare You.’ I’m going to try to live up to them. I thought you might like to see what they are, so here goes:

My New Year’s Resolution(s):
THE SIX WAYS OF COMPASSIONATE LIVING ~ courtesy of the Honourable Pema Chodron

Generosity. Giving as a path of learning to let go.

Discipline. Training in not causing harm in a way that is daring and flexible.

Patience. Training in abiding with the restlessness of our energy and letting things evolve at their own speed. If waking up takes forever, still we go moment by moment, giving up all hope of fruition and enjoying the process.

Joyful enthusiasm. Letting go of our perfectionism and connecting with the living quality of every moment.

Meditation. Training in coming back to being right here with gentleness and precision.

Prajna (or transcendent wisdom). Cultivating an open, inquiring mind.

There you have them. NOT an easy year ahead, given my often self-centered, procrastinating, whiney & downright ignorant nature… Sigh. The hardest calls — at least for me — are patience and discipline. I soooo want to WHACK folks when they’re mean-hearted! Which (and yes, I see the irony) is just what they’re doing — lashing out, from a point of pain. I can see that — at least intellectually. But I confess: I still wanna whack ’em.

Discipline? How many times have I fallen off the meditation wagon? I’m kind of like the Skid Row meditator, really. In the gutter of well-intentioned inertia…

This year, however, it’s going to be better. I have a journal and I know how to use it. I have a support network, and they know to nudge me. I have incentives and I have hope.

And I HAVE to believe they count for something, that THIS YEAR will be the one where I get more of it right. And even as I say this, I recognize: every year is a bit better. It’s just that… well, I’m so verrry imperfect! (There’s a LOT to work with… 🙂 ) But since I don’t mind your imperfections, maybe you’ll cut me some slack, too? And I can go about my self-improvement plan knowing it won’t all work out. But some of it will.

Some of it will.