2012 has arrived!

I barely made it to midnight–had to go take a nap for a little while and then kept myself awake by eating potato chips and drinking root beer.  Tried not to watch the ball drop in NYC–for some reason, it just bugs me–but to no avail–it was everywhere.  (I realize I could have avoided it altogether by turning off the TV, but I wasn’t in charge of the remote.)

Anyways, 2011 is gone, never to return except in our thoughts and memories. When I look back at a year, for some reason it seems the “bad” things stand out in my mind more than the good…I lost a dear brother-in-law in August, we moved my mom to an assisted living facility, more soldiers and marines were killed in the war, friends were diagnosed with cancer,  the economy is still bad…

What were the good things?  Those seem a little more difficult to recall…we moved my mom to an assisted living facility (didn’t I already say that?), we both kept our jobs, we rejoiced in the birth of one granddaughter and adopted yet another one, we got to take a trip to DC, go on vacation trips to AZ & Mammoth, I got to be with my mom and both of my sibs for the first time in 40 years…

As I stop to think about it, the good things far outweighed the bad, but I think the bad seems to leap to the front of my mind because of the emotional component.  For some reason, negative emotions seem stronger than positive ones…maybe it’s just me.

So, 2012 is here.  I’m tempted to make a lot of resolutions I won’t keep, so I think maybe I’ll just try to make a couple of small adjustments instead:

First, this year I want to be more aware of the good things that happen…so I’m going to try to write them down as they happen, so they won’t slip away.

The second thing is, I want to live in a more content state.  I’m not a huge complainer usually, but I have the ability to be dissatisfied with the way things are.  I know that in some circumstances that can be a good thing because it spurs me on to make changes to improve myself; but it can also lead to chronic unhappiness and become the focus of my existence.  I need to differentiate between those things which can be changed for the better and those which should be accepted as part of my life right now and quit being such a whiner.  Lots of time I don’t need an actual change in what’s going on, I just need a paradigm shift: I need to view my circumstances differently.

So…those are my two hopes for 2012.

I pray God’s richest blessings on all of you in the coming year.  May you walk close to Him and be aware of His presence around you.

Happy New Year!!