Resolution Success Revisited

by Elizabeth Van Allen
scribblesbyartteachervanallen.blogspot.com/

Every year I make fabulous and life-changing resolutions that will improve my quality of life for evermore.  Several weeks later, they all become long-distant memories of ideas that would have been great if I had gone through with them.

Nama mat spray and rosin 
for my hands makes
 resolution #1 much easier

 After years and years of this I sorted through the rubble of those yearly broken promises and realized that not every New Year's resolution I've made has crashed and burned to a crisp.  Miracle of miracles, a few shining gems have actually survived my tendency towards self-sabotage.  I hope that sharing these few bright points that have improved my daily life will help you make a few reasonable and uplifting resolutions of your own.  And hopefully a few of your New Years goals will remain intact for more than just a few weeks too!

Resolution #1: Pursue yoga for both physical and mental health.  I've been practicing yoga for over a year now and my body has been much happier.  Even practicing an average of once a week I've had less issues and more flexibility.  Combined with regular meditation (ok, ok, with me it's sporatic) I've also reaped the benefits of a clearer mind.  I feel kind of new-agey even admitting it, but that yoga and meditation stuff really does work! 

Resolution #2: Expand my world view, preferably in a way that is way less painful than watching the news.  This is how I re-discovered National Public Radio through WHYY-FM in Philadelphia. My commute has become much broader than just the four lanes of traffic by travelling around the country and world through my radio.

Resolution #3: Find a way to stay awake past 9 pm that doesn't involve propping my eyelids open with toothpicks.  I've had no luck with knitting and the quality of television programming doesn't seem to make a difference.  I taught myself how to embroider this summer and somehow I was able to stay awake even later than 11 pm on some nights.  See next week's post for more on that adventure!

What New Year's resolutions have you kept, either accidentally or on purpose?